Niagara At Large

(Niagara At Large is posting this January 10 media release from the office of St. Catharines Conservative MP Rick Dykstra for your information. It speaks to the New York State government’s plans to introduce legislation for controlling the dumping of ballast waters in the Great Lakes with possible invasive species in them and the concern major shipping companies in Canada have that this legislation could hurt their business.)

St. Catharines– City councilors last night voted unanimously to support a resolution opposing New York State’s “unachievable” incoming ballast water regulations, urging the American and Canadian governments to take all possible measure to stop them from being implemented as proposed.

St. Catharines, Ontario federal MP Rick Dykstra.

 Stephen Brooks, vice-president of the Chamber of Marine Commerce, flanked by St. Catharines MP Rick Dykstra, made a presentation to council last night, outlining for councilors how potentially devastating these regulations could be for marine shipping on the St. Lawrence Seaway.  Afterward, he praised council for its support. “We’re pleased that the City of St. Catharines recognizes the potential harm that New York State’s regulations could bring to their city and region and we are hopeful that other Canadian and American cities around the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway will also adopt similar resolutions.” Continue reading →

By Bernie Slepkov

 Understanding, interacting with, and affecting the world around us and the communities in which we live call for both telescopic and microscopic visions. Ever since its local owners sold the St. Catharines Standard we have been gradually losing our microscopic visions.

Niagara citizen activist Bernie Slepkov

Meanwhile, without alternate local dailies, skewed telescopic visions foster ill-informed readers and limited worldviews.

 Realizing back in 1996 that certain critical aspects of our societies were on the verge of significant needed change, I began to research and track societal trends. For this I read or scanned every newspaper on which I could get my hands. Frankly, I wanted to—and ultimately have—played a role in influencing the kinds of societal changes I thought would eventually benefit St. Catharines, and indeed, Niagara at large. Continue reading →

Niagara At Large is posting the following media release from the St. Catharines and District Council of Women for our readers information. It draws attention to an event, scheduled for Thursday, January, 12 at the Centennial Library in downtown St. Catharines Ontario.

Featured speaker David Alexander

 That event will feature an address by David Alexander, executive director of the not-for-profit Niagara Workforce Planning Board and it will focus on jobs in this region. As you may know Niagara has recently suffered from some of the highest jobless rates in the province and country. So this is a timely talk on one of the most challenging issues we face as a region. Here is the media release. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

 We often hear a great deal of complaining these days about government and how poorly it is working. These complaints and the anger that so often propels them provide grist for  neo- conservatives and libertarians in our midst to say lets gut government or get rid of it all together.

Image courtesy of Niagara Region.

 Yet there are successes – some of which we take for granted – and in Niagara, Ontario one of the very best is the regional government’s recycling program.

 Thanks to that program and thanks to residents across Niagara who have participated by making use of Blue and Grey boxes for recycling plastics, metal and paper and the like, and those Green bins for compostable organics, we are keeping almost half of the waste we generate in our homes and businesses out of landfill sites – a fantastic achievement given that a mere three decades ago, many skeptics in and outside of government believed  most of us would not go to the trouble to recycle. Continue reading →

(Niagara at large is pleased to post the following media release from the Niagara Parks Commission on this site. It highlights one of the Ontario-based Park Commission’s great annual events – coming to you in January when you might think there aren’t many fun things to do in the Parks. )

 Send your Christmas Tree to the Curb and Give Back to the Environment

 Niagara Falls, ON– What do you do with your Christmas tree once Christmas and New Year’s have passed? Come to the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens and School of Horticulture on Sunday, January 15 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the annual Project Tree Cycle event.

Get out of the January cold at Niagara Park's Butterfly Conservancy. Photo courtesy of Niagara Parks Commission.

 The Niagara Parks Commission (NPC) invites you to bring your own bag and shovel to collect FREE wood chips recycled from discarded Christmas trees. Christmas trees will be collected on Saturday, January 14 through the Regional Waste Program and NPC staff will mulch the trees on Sunday, January 15. The wood chip mulch will be available in the north end of the parking lot directly in front of the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens and School of Horticulture. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

In a world dominated by hollowed-out newspapers, vacuous television, and political campaigns obsessed with sound-bites and banalities, it’s always refreshing to dig deeper and expand the public discourse. 

Entering the Wahgoshig First Nations reservation. Is this another country or is it Canada? Photo courtesy of Mark Taliano.

 This is what John Ralston Saul does in A Fair Country Telling Truths About Canada.  Interestingly, his message resonates with today’s grassroots citizens’ movements (i.e the world-wide Occupy Movement). The underlying message is that if we, as Canadians, find the confidence to be true to ourselves, and to understand who we are, we will be empowered to the benefit of ourselves and the world.  Continue reading →

NIA Dec29 col Complete DD

  A Commentary by Doug Draper

Goodbye to the good, bad and ugly of 2011.

A typical template for a holiday family newsletter for people that can't use their own imagination.

 It has been a year of blood-letting wars and revolutions overseas, destructive flood, fire and wind storms, a world economy teetering on the brink and continued high unemployment rates here at home.

Whether 2011 has been a good year or bad one, or something in between depends on your perspective.

 If you lost your job or lost a loved one to illness or a fatal accident, or if some other tragedy of that magnitude shook you on the home front, then this year may be one you won’t look back on very fondly. Then again, if you were fortunate to keep your job and avoid any other calamities, then it may be a different story.

 One of the things I find most interesting in this regard are those family newsletters some people insist on sending around in place of a mere card or, dare I dream, an actual visit or phone call during the holiday season. You know the kind of newsletters I’m talking about, don’t you? They’re the ones written like form letters with no references to you or your family other than your name keyed in after the word “Dear …” Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

 I get sick and tired of reading these stories about newspapers being gutted by corporate vultures across this continent.

One more once-proud newspaper going to the corporate barons' slaughter house.

 I also get sick and tired of those in our communities who pretend to lament the passage of the newspaper as it was, yet continue to purchase a shelled-out piece of crap of that paper, served upby the corporatists anyway. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

 In my 33 years as a reporter, I’ve covered my share of people facing bad times and have been so often impressed with how remarkable people facing the worst of times in their lives can soar above them with strength and dignity.

Reilly's parents, Tim Anzovino and Denise Kennedy, making a final statement following the inquest in to their daughter's death. Photo by Doug Draper

There is no award I can think of in Niagara, Ontario for a family that fits that tall bill, but if I could pick one for the year 2011, it would be the Anzovino/Kennedy family of Fort Erie, Ontario.

 This is the family of Reilly Anzovino who died at age 18 – two years ago this December 27 – following a car accident on a stretch of Highway 3 between Port Colborne and her hometown of Fort Erie. The accident occurred after the Niagara Health System had shut down the emergency rooms in the Fort Erie and Port Colborne hospitals earlier that year. And to say that this family has

 The family, including  Reilly’s mom, Denise Kennedy, and Reilly’s dad, Tim Anzovino, their son Kain and so many other supportive members, worked with the support of the Fort Erie area community to get Ontario’s chief coroner, Dr. Andrew McCallum, to hold a “discretionary inquest” in to the matter – no small thing since mandatory inquests are usually only held for cases of murder and the like. Continue reading →

By Charles Davies, a citizen of Fort Erie, Ontario

(Niagara At Large is posting this piece with the permission of Charles Davies because it is the most detailed one we’ve received yet, expressing disappointment that Andre Marin, Ontario’s Ombudsman, has still not responded in any affirmative way calls from Niagara residents for an investigation by his office into the Niagara Health System, the body responsible for operating most of this region’s hospital services. If anyone one else out there would like to share their views on this issue, read Mr. Davies’ notes then post your comments below. Doug Draper, Niagara At Large.)

 Dear Mr. Draper,

Some time ago, in one of your columns, you  stated that the Ombudsman of Ontario now had the power to investigate the NHS because a government supervisor was in charge. I jumped at the chance to send in a complaint to Mr. Marin.

Where is Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin on the NHS?

Several of my friends sent in submissions with the same result.
It appears that Kevin Smith is only there to put out fires and to “improve communications with the public” . He has stated that he will not look at the past – only the future. They are all in this together – NHS, LHIN, the Ministry of Health, and Dalton McGuity who want to stay as far away from the problems as possible. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

If you are movie buff, you may know that a film called ‘My Week With Marilyn’ is hitting screens around North America.

My father Doug Sr. with me and Casey Adams, starring in the Hollywood film 'Niagara' from 1952. Marilyn Monroe, another star in the film, was greeting fans in the Table Rock restaurant in the background. And why wasn't I there???!!!!

My wife Mary and I first saw it at a wonderful independent theatre on Cape Cod late this November and liked it so much that we went to see it again the week before Christmas at another great old independent theatre in Buffalo called the North Park.

The movie is about a young guy in his early 20s who managed to get a job working as a third-string producer on a film being made in England in the mid-1950s by the late great actor Lawrence Olivia and co-starring Marilyn Monroe, who was on the verge at the time of making her mark as one of the greatest sex symbols in films in such hits as ‘Some Like It Hot’, ‘The Seven Year Itch’, ‘Bus Stop’ and ‘The Misfits’. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

 A coalition of Canadian and U.S. mayors around the Great Lakes, chaired by St. Catharines, Ontario Mayor Brian McMullan, is calling on provincial, state and federal governments for public hearings and “for utmost transparency and disclosure” when it comes to the potential impact of ‘fracking wastes’ on Great Lakes waters.

St. Catharines mayor and Great Lakes mayors' coalition chair Brian McMullan.

 “We are saying that this is such an important issue that we want to make sure that municipalities are part of the discussion and that the discussion is transparent,” said McMullan in a recent interview with Niagara At Large following a meeting of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative earlier this December.

 This initiative or coalition, established in 2003 and made up of 82 mayors from cities and town around the Canadian and U.S. shores of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River, used the same resolution passed this December in Chicago to ask for complete disclosure of the chemicals used in a fracking process that involves injecting chemically treated water deep into layers of shale rock to free up natural gas for extraction and use as a source of energy. Continue reading →

A Note from NAL publisher Doug Draper

 How I sometimes wish I could go back to my early childhood when Christmas seemed so magic and my brother and I used to sneak out of bed hoping to catch a glimpse of Santa Claus, Rudolph and company casting a shadow across a full moon on the ‘night before.’

Our Christmas frog. Have a froggy Christmas.

 Of course, our staying up like that made it a bit hard on our mother and father who had to outlast us to put the presents under the tree and do whatever they did with the milk and cookies we left out for the jolly old guy. But it was nice and it sure beats going out for a few last things on the day before Christmas and putting up with ugliness of people playing chicken in shopping mall parking lots for a spot to leave their car and trying to shove in before another at the cash registers. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

 One of the arguments often used against the Conservative government of Stephen Harper by its critics is that thanks to its policies, Canada is losing its reputation as a world leader in such areas as health care, peace keeping and the environment.

A green mushy lawn, along with deflated lawn ornaments, is now what we have of a display that has won awards in the past. It's a green Christmas and let's hope for many more. Bring on climate change! Photo by Doug Draper

 I’ve got to confess. I’ve been among those critics, especially when it comes to what I’ve viewed as the Harper government’s failure to be a leader in making decisions on environmental issues that have potentially catastrophic consequences, not only for Canada but for the rest of the world.

All of that changed last week though when Peter Kent, the environment minister for the Harper government, announced Canada’s intentions to be the first of more than 140 nations to pull out of a Kyoto agreement our country signed in the 1990s to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases to combat climate change. If that isn’t showing leadership on an environment issue of international importance, then what the hell is?!!! Continue reading →

 By Doug Draper

 The coroner’s inquest into the death two Christmas season ago of Fort Erie, Ontario teen Reilly Anzovino is over and it spawned 27 recommendations in all for improving responses to traffic collisions that result in life-threatening injuries.

With Tim Anzovino, Reilly's father to the right, family member Patricia Anzovino behind her and lawyer Maureen Currie to the left, Reilly's mother, Denise Kennedy, reads statement at conclusion of inquest. Photo by Doug Draper

 The recommendations came from a five-person jury in a Welland courtroom after those jurors listened to three weeks of evidence, involving the testimony of about three dozen witnesses, and at the end of the day, the Anzovino family said it was satisfied with the results.

Denise Kennedy, Reilly’s mother, said after the jury completed its deliberations his December 21 that the family hopes the recommendations, if followed through by various levels of government, will prevent other families from suffering the tragedy her family did.

 Those recommendations include reviewing the need for a centre to deal with trauma patients in Niagara and the need for paramedics to adhere, as much as possible, to a 10-minute standard when it comes to loading patients on an ambulance and rushing off to a hospital. In this inquest, there were concerns raised about the roughly 17 minutes of time it took for paramedics to leave the scene of the accident after  Reilly was placed in the ambulance. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Friends of Fort Erie, Ontario teen Reilly Anzovino are asking the province to establish a new law, requiring that families of loved ones involved in serious car crashes be notified of the incident as soon as possible.

Reilly's brother Kain, with Reilly's friends from left, Kate Kutka, Jamal Mills-Alexander, Emma Kutka and Brianna Reay at the Welland courthouse. Photo by Doug Draper

 Reilly’s friends shared their plea for what they are calling “Reilly’s Law” with members of the media at a Welland courthouse this December 21, where an Ontario coroner’s inquest in to the circumstances surrounding their friend’s death two years ago this holiday season was in to its final hours.

 The Fort Erie teen was pronounced dead at the Niagara Health System’s Welland hospital site at 1:21 a.m. on December 27, 2009 following an accident that occurred almost two hours earlier on a Fort Erie stretch of Highway 3. Reilly’s parents were contactd by Ontario Provincial Police at 1:17  a.m. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

 A five-person jury is expected to table its findings and recommendations at 3 p.m. this December 21 following more than three weeks of testimony into the circumstances surrounding the death two years ago of Fort Erie teen Reilly Anzovino.

The Welland Courthouse where the Inquest has been held. Photo by Doug Draper

 Reilly Anzovino was pronounced dead at 1:21 a.m. on December 27, 2009 following a traffic collision in the late hours of Boxing Day on Highway 3 between her hometown of Fort Erie and Port Colborne. Many residents in Niagara’s south end, including members of Reilly’s family, have wondered ever since if she would still be alive today if the Niagara Health System had not converted emergency rooms at hospitals it operates in Fort Erie and Port Colborne to urgent care centres that could no longer accept with life-threatening injuries or illnesses. With the closing of those ERs, Reilly was transported that night to an emergency room further away at the hospital in Welland. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

 There have been those from the start that have said “No” to the idea of a full-fledged regional transit system for Niagara, Ontario, and that is sad.

Niagara regional chair speaks at launch of Niagara Region Transit last September. Is it already time to pull the plug on this "pilot" transit system? Photo by Doug Draper

 Why can’t a region of more than 400,000 residents, with hundreds of thousands more visiting Niagara during the height of the tourist season, have a region-wide transit system of its own, just as Erie and Niagara Counties, New York do, and just as Waterloo Region, Ontario does, and York and Durham in this province?

 Those who’ve read my columns on this site and in other publications over the years going back to my days as an environment reporter at The St. Catharines Standard, may know that I have always been an energetic supporter of public transit. Continue reading →

A  Comment by Doug Draper

 He was one of my favourite fellow atheists, not to mention one of the most brilliant and provocative journalists and essay writers of our age.

Christopher Hitchens

 To say that we humans – all of us who are fortunate to share this planet just for a little while – have suffered a loss of one of the few left among us who kept intelligent and challenging discourse alive in an age of bumper sticker slogans and two-sentence tweets is to say the least. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

 If we need yet another reason why there should be a change in governance in this region, right up to and including the possibility of amalgamating all 12 local municipalities into one ‘City of Niagara’, take a look at the stumbling around we are doing with a service so vital as public transit.

Photo by Doug Draper

 You may or may not know that as of this past September, we now have an “inter-municipal public transit service” in Niagara. It is all but a secret, except for the noble attempts of the regional government’s communication department to spread the word around through newsletters, pamphlets and so on. But this is where we have to be carefull and almost get down to a whisper about regional buses, lest we offend the parochial interests of our local municipalities. Continue reading →

(NAL is posting this December 16 media release from the Ontario NDP for your information. Should their bonuses and perks, including all gifts from contractors working for them like trips to the Vancouver be posted. You better damn believe it. An NAL editorial note.)

Ontario NDP critic Cheri DiNovo

“Now, more than ever, everyday people need to know that public money is being spent responsibly on their priorities. If families are being told to tighten their belts they have a right to know exactly how hospital CEOs are being paid,” said DiNovo. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting this December 13 media release from St. Catharines MP Rick Dystra for your information. We also invite you to share your views on this issue below.)

St. Catharines MP Rick Dykstra

St. Catharines – Rick Dykstra, Member of Parliament for St. Catharines and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, says he wholeheartedly supports a directive, announced yesterday by Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to ban the wearing of face coverings during the citizenship ceremony.

This is something our department has been aware of as an issue for some time”, said Dykstra.  “Other MP’s, as well as citizenship judges have told us that the oath cannot properly be recited behind a veil or other type of covering and that those taking the oath must do in an atmosphere of openness and transparency.” Continue reading →

“Hey Bungalow Bill
What did you kill,
Bungalow Bill?”
– The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill, The Beatles; Lyrics by John Lennon

By Dan Wilson

Far be it for me to stereotype people, make sweeping generalizations or paint everyone with the same brush, but hunters are a despicable lot (despicable, adj. deserving to be despised; contemptible; morally reprehensible; vile).*

Deer remains. Photo by Dan Wilson.

Case in point: I’m hiking out at Rockway last Sunday and I notice these two guys in the parking lot of the Rockway Community Centre doing something out of the back of one of their trucks. I didn’t think too much about it as I figured they were getting ready to go for a hike as well.

When I returned a few hours later, they were still there, getting ready to leave. I also noticed something in the grass directly behind their truck so I went over to investigate. Turns out it was a deer carcass, freshly killed and cleaned. The head was severed, the flesh removed and the innards stuffed into two garbage bags along with a rolled up sheet of plastic dripping blood. Continue reading →

NAL peace bridge Christmas day, ….

BUFFALO, NY/FORT ERIE, ON– The Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority (Peace Bridge Authority) is pleased to announce that it will not charge tolls on Sunday, December 25, 2011, in celebration of the Christmas holiday.

Courtesy of the Peace Bridge Authority.

The toll-free period will be in effect for 24 hours beginning at 12 AM Christmas morning.
“Not charging tolls on Christmas Day is a nice way to conclude the year and say thank you to our employees and customers,” said Authority Chairman Anthony Annunziata. “And let me also remind travelers to check out our festive bridge lighting show scheduled for that same evening.”

The Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority, a binational authority, has owned and operated the Peace Bridge since 1933. The bridge, which was opened to traffic in 1927, spans the Niagara River between Fort Erie, Ontario, and Buffalo, New York, and is a key international border crossing. The Authority is governed by a 10 member board with an equal number of representatives from Canada and the United States.

(Want to enjoy great flower displays, even at this time of year! NAL may get in trouble with others around this one, but few can do it for you like Ontario’s own Niagara Parks Commission. We share this release on a great display they have ready for you of Poinsettias of many colours and others for free to you at their fine site at the Floral Showhouse along the Niagara Parkway in Niagara Falls, Ontario.Give yourself a big beautiful break and take it in. The media release and particulars from the Niagara Parks Commisson are below.)

NIAGARA FALLS, ON — The gardens may be put to bed, but there is still a great opportunity to enjoy a burst of horticultural beauty at The Niagara Parks Commission’s (NPC) Floral Showhouse.

Photo courtesy of Niagara Parks Commission

Christmas has officially arrived with traditional red, white and pink Poinsettias as well as many unusual varieties and forms. Cyclamen, Azaleas, Christmas Cactus and Paperwhite Narcissus add to this spectacular festival of winter colours.

As a final touch, the Floral Showhouse has been adorned with lights, garland, ribbon, a beautiful Nativity scene and many other holiday surprises. Free flying tropical birds throughout the Showhouse add to the Christmas merriment. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

With less than two weeks to go before the official start of winter,   Buffalo, New York has already had its first blast of snow off Lake Erie. And as on this past Sunday, December 11, a chilly wind was whirling around downtown buildings surrounding Washington Square where the canvas covers of tents were flapping wildly.

Paul Rozzman, a U.S. army veteran andan occupier at the Buffalo encampment. Photo by Doug Draper

Yet those hunkering down in these tents – all part of an Occupy Buffalo encampment now into its third month and still surviving in the shadow of Buffalo’s city hall while ‘Occupy’ encampments, including those in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, New York City, Boston and so many  other cities across the continent have been folded  by the powers that be – remain determined to tough it ought, even as forecasts call for another blast of icy rain and snow in the days ahead. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting this expected announcement from a Canadian governent – Stephen Harper’s Conservatives – that always viewed any human involvement in climate change as a joke. NAL believes this decision by the Harper Conservatives to pull out of the international Kyoto talks will be a day that is remembered in imfamy for generations to come.)

From Council of Canadians environmental  campaigner, Andrea Harden-Donahue

Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent Announces Canada is Legally Leaving the Kyoto Protocol

 December 12th, 2011.

Council of Canadians environmentalist Andrea Harden-Donahue

Kent coached the announcement with plenty of key words about our ongoing commitment to the Durban platform, (the so called real way forward) a fair
dose of fear mongering (as Megan Leslie referred to it) and that we are committed to taking climate change. But they were just that, words, words that hopefully mainstream media won¹t buy this hook line and sinker. While this announcement may not come as a surprise, the reality is it is a big
deal. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is pleased to post the following media release from Heart Niagara, an agency that has received international attention for its heart-care work. After 35 years, the agency has been informed by the Niagara Health System – the amalgamated board for most hospital services in Niagara for the past decade -that the in-kind space it has enjoyed at the Niagara Falls hospital site for the past 35 years is no longer available. )

Heart Niagara is reaching out for community support as they search for a new home in Niagara.

Heart Niagara has recently been informed by the Niagara Health System that the in-kind space they have been providing for the last 35 years will no longer be available due to the need to increase NHS–GNG site isolation bed capacity for patients requiring isolation. The relocation will see administrative areas moved from clinical areas and placed in the Allied Health Centre, leaving Heart Niagara without a site to work from. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

First came the chilly November nights camping out in tents. Then came the pepper spray.

One Christmas yard scene. photo by Doug Draper

The faces of those who were peppered, according to all the reports I read in so many mainstream newspaper from Toronto to Boston and New York, turned red going on purple as their eyes watered up and the sting in their throats caused them to cough violently. “Call an ambulance! Call an ambulance,” one of them yelled as others turned to flee. Continue reading →

By Willy Noiles

It was a long, winding circuitous, often pock-marked ride, as Welland Mayor Barry Sharpe put it, but regional councillors finally approved a byelection in the Rose City to fill the vacancy left by Cindy Forster’s provincial victory in October.

Welland Mayor Barry Sharpe finally gets clearance from region for byelection.

Unable to resolve the issue, they ultimately voted to refer the matter back to Welland council, asking them to recommend somebody to appoint. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Should students from Brock University and Niagara College be allowed to use their transit passes to ride Niagara’s inter-municipal transit system?  Or should they pay the $5 fare on top of the $139 they  pay each year for a pass to ride local bus systems.

Almost empty Niagara Region Transit buses leave passengers off at Welland bus terminal this November. Photro by Doug Draper.

Following a vigorous debate on the question a December 8 regional council meeting, a majority of councillors voted to put a decision off until early in the New Year when they get some feedback from the three main local transit operators based in St. Catharines, Niagara Falls and Welland.

Students enrolled at Brock and Niagara College have begun pressing Niagara’s regional government  to honour  their transit passes – also known as ‘U passes’ paid for through their tuition fees – for the Niagara Region Transit system that began rolling between St. Catharines, Thorold, Niagara Falls, Welland and onward with feeder lines to and from Port Colborne and Fort Erie last September.

One of the problems, say students, is that the local transit buses running between campuses in St. Catharines, Welland, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Niagara Falls frequently become full to capacity. At that point, students who can’t get on them are left standing at the side watching one of region’s nearly empty buses drive by, which they can only use if they shell out five bucks per ride. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

The late Niagara MPP Mel Swart – a champion for fairer auto insurance rates in Ontario – may agree with me with I say three cheers for the province’s  Auditor General Jim McCarter.

The late Niagara MPP Mel Swart was a champion for fairer auto insurance rates.

In his latest annual report, released at Queen’s Park this past Monday, McCarter criticized the eight-year-old Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty for not doing enough during that time to keep we, the people of this province, from being mugged in our pocket book when it comes to the soaring costs of such essentials as energy, health care and, last but not lease, auto insurance.

There are so many important things McCarter addresses in his report but I’m going to focus on auto insurance – an issue I’ve been taken to task for by some members of the insurance industry for arguing that for many years over the past decade and a half,  drivers have been hit with premium increases well above the rate of inflation while the industry has has enjoyed record profits. Continue reading →

NAL  Christmas Concert

Niagara at Large is pleased to post the following poster, advertising a free Christmas concert to be performed by the popular Chorus Niagara Children’s Choir on Wednesday, December 14 at 7 p.m. at 7 p.m. at St. Barnabas Anglican Church on 31 Queenston St. in St. Catharines, Ontario.

Please click on the poster below to enlarge it on your screen and after you have had a closer look at that, we are also posting below a media release for the a Christmas concert version of Chorus Niagara with the Niagara Symphony, to be performed at Brock University’s Sean O’Sullivan Theatre in St. Catharines this December 10 and 11.

This one includes ticket fees that you can find out more information out about below, and it is worth it!  Chorus Niagara, as you may by now know, is still receiving hundreds of thousands of hits on top of the millions already received for an online video of its rendition of  an amazing rendition of Hallelujah at of all places, the Seaway shopping mall a year ago this Christmas season in  Welland, Ontario.

We are posting information on the Chorus Niagara concert at Brock University below. Continue reading →

A Brief by Doug Draper

This December 7, Canadian Prime Minister  Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama signed a cross-border agreement – loosely being called the ‘Canada-U.S. border plan – that may be as significant as any binational agreement the two countries have signed going back to the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909.

Canadian PM Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama embrace over new cross-border agreement. But is it good for us?

Niagara At Large has posted a few media releases and statements from government and business groups on both sides of the border since this agreement was signed between the two leaders in the White House this December 7. We have done so because in our greater Niagara region, including residents in Niagara, Ontario and Erie and Niagara counties, New York, we share some of the busiest border crossings in all of North America, and residents and businesses here will be significantly impacted by this It appears many members of the business community on both sides of the Niagara River have rushed to the conclusion that this agreement, to the extent it will make it easier to move goods back and forth, believe this agreement is a positive step for our economies and for the growth of jobs in a region that has been suffering economically with the out-sourcing of good-paying manufacturing jobs overseas.  Perhaps they are right.

There are others, including the Ottawa-based citizens group Council of Canadians, that are expressing concerns about what this agreement may mean for the loss of individual privacy and national sovereignty. In a statement published on the Council of Canadian’s website this December 7, the group’s director Maude Barlow said the border plan will “create new checks on travel into and out of Canada, and increase the amount of personal information that is shared with U.S. security agenices. It will announce new joint policing initiatives that could make it normal to have U.S. agents operating in Canada.” Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting this letter, dated December 7, to residents on both sides of our greater Niagara border from the U.S. ambassador to Canada, David Jacobson, on the historic signing of a new cross-border agreement between Canada and the United States for your information.)

I have just come from the Oval Office, where President Obama and Prime Minister Harper took our relationship to the next level as they announced the Action Plans for Beyond the Border: A Shared Vision for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness.

The U.S. ambassador to Canada, David Jacobson

 Building on that spirit, in February we set forth a plan for the future of North America. We committed to a shared vision for perimeter security and economic competitiveness. We agreed to work together within, at, and away from our borders to enhance our security, better coordinate our regulatory systems, and accelerate the legitimate flow of people, goods and services. We rejected the false choice between security and efficiency at the border. We realized that by improving the efficiency of the border in smart ways we would enhance the security of North America while lifting the standard of living of our people. We promised to consult with our citizens and to deliver a detailed Action Plan to realize our vision. Today we deliver on that promise. Continue reading →

 (Niagara At Large is posting this December 2 media release from members of the Niagara, Ontario businesses community on an unprecedented border agreement between Canada and the United States – an agreement that very much impacts on our greater Niagara region given the fact that it hosts some of the busiest border crossings on the continent.)

(Niagara) – As Niagara continues to play a leadership role in Canada’s economic transition, the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce and St. Catharines – Thorold Chamber of Commerce welcomes the new Canada – U.S. Border Action Plan announced today.

Mike Watt, chair of the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce on the Ontario side of the border.

A key component of the border deal will be the expansion of pre-clearance programs NEXUS and FAST (Free and Secure Trade). The chambers are encouraged to see that there will also be expanded lanes and booths for NEXUS holders at the Fort Erie and Queenston border crossings.

 “As a community that benefits directly from this trade with nearly 30 per cent of all Canada-US trade passing through Niagara, we certainly recognize the importance of facilitating movement of goods and people between Canada and the U.S,” explains Mike Watt, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce. “The business community will benefit from expedited access to the United States market as a result of this agreement.” Continue reading →

Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-27) celebrated U.S. President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Harper’s historic agreement declaring a shared responsibility for enhanced security and efficient access for the legitimate movement of people, goods, and services between the northern border.

Buffalo, New York area Congressman Brian Higgins.

 “For quite some time we have urged changes at our border to increase the capacity, encourage predictability and otherwise facilitate a better flow of goods and people between our two nations,” said Congressman Higgins.   “The specific attention to the Peace Bridge is welcome news for Western New York.  Today’s recommendations provide long-awaited coordination that will lead to better security and great new opportunities between our shared economies. “

 President Obama and Prime Minister Harper first announced plans for a “Beyond the Border” working group to develop a shared vision strategy in February.  On July 14^th Congressman Higgins wrote a letter to the President asking that he and Prime Minister Harper address three specific issues to advance the cross-border relationship.  Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Behind some of the most dedicated citizen activists I’ve met in Niagara over my 32 years of reporting are incredibly patient and supportive spouses.

Joe with wife and citizen activist Sue Salzer. Photo courtesy of Sue Salzer.

I think most particularly of Norm Howe and Jim Matthews, the husbands of two of the most effective environmental activists whose efforts I covered earlier on in this region – Margherita Howe and Lynne Matthews. And I think of Joe Salzer, the husband of Sue Salzer, a Fort Erie resident and leader of the Yellow Shirt Brigade, a group of mostly south Niagara residents that is continuing to fight for accessible, quality hospital services for all.

Joe  Salzer passed away quietly this past Sunday, December 4 following a lengthy illness. He spent his last hours at the Douglas Memorial Hospital in Fort Erie, one of the hospital s that was taken hostage by the Niagara Health System under an amalgamation of most of Niagara’s hospital services, imposed without any say from the public by the former provincial Conservative government of Mike Harris. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

 The United Nations Climate Conference has been convening in Durban, South Africa, since November 28 and will continue until December 9, 2011.  This, and Canada’s shameful response to environmental injustices, including human-caused global warming, prompted a rally and protest from the Toronto Occupy Movement this past Saturday, December 3 for a “Global Day Of Action for Climate Justice”), starting at Dundas Square and ending at St. James Park.

Anti-Tar Sands Rally. Photo courtesy of Mark Taliano

  The rally started with a traditional Mohawk ceremony thanking Mother Earth for her abundance.  Next, a speaker from Amnesty International described the tragedy of the Union Carbide/Dow industrial accident in Bhopal, India 27 years ago, and the tragic failures of the clean-up efforts.  Continue reading →

 By Doug Draper

  A bill Tim Hudak and his Ontario Conservatives put forward this past December 1 to allow local communities to have more in where facilities for generating wind energy should be located was defeated by the NDP and governing Liberals.

Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak at recent gathering in front of Queen's Park. Photo courtesy of Tim Hudak's office.

  “Local residents have more say over where a Tim Hortons or a chip truck goes in town than they do over the location of an industrial wind farm,” said Hudak during a recent interview with Niagara At Large. “To centralize that decision making (with the provincial government) is an injustice ad it is wrong, and it should be fixed.”

  Hudak said the purpose of the private members’ bill his party hoped to get passed this December 1 was to restore the right of local residents to have some say in deciding where wind farms should go, not to say no to wind energy altogether in Niagara. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

A provincial inquest into the circumstances around the death of Fort Erie teen Reilly Anzovino will continue in a Welland courtroom this coming Monday, December 5.

Fort Erie teen Reilly Anzovino

The inquest was called by Ontario’s Chief Coroner’s office in the wake of questions from the Anzovino family and many others in the south end of Niagara whether 18-year-old Reilly would still be alive if the Niagara Health System – the body responsible for managing most of the hospital services in the region – had not closed the emergency rooms in Reilly’s hometown of Fort Erie and in nearby Port Colborne earlier that year. Reilly was pronounced dead in the early hours of December 27, 2009 following a longer trip to the emergency room at NHS’s Welland hospital site. Continue reading →

(NIAGARA At Large is posting the following media release from Niagara, Ontario’s regional government on the passage of a 2012 budget that will see a $41 increase on the regional portion of property taxes across the region.)

NIAGARA REGION, Dec. 2, 2011– Niagara Regional Council approved their 2012 budget last night with a focus on both affordability and sustainability. Residents will see an increase of 3.14 per cent in Regional taxes this year, after Council passed its 2012 net operating budget of $294.5 million and capital budget of $149 million.

Niagara Regional Chair Gary Burroughs - a budget for a "critical time."

On average, a homeowner with a 2011 property assessment of $219,732 will pay about $1,360 for Regional services; an increase of approximately $41 from the 2011 tax levy.

The proposed water budget will see a 0.02 per cent increase, wastewater a 4.3 per cent increase and waste management will see a 0.24 per cent increase. The combined water and wastewater household impact for 2012 is an average increase of $14. The waste management impact per household is an average decrease of $2 per household. These impacts vary based on the municipality you live in. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

 This is a good one from Ontario’s premier – strike a toughter than ever blow  against bullying!

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty

 The province’s premier, Dalton McGuinty, met with students in one of Ontario’s school today to send out a message that bullying and intolerance will be met with much tougher consequences than before against those doing the bullying.

 McGuinty also released a video, and Niagara At Large is providing a link to this video below, that reinforces his government’s intention to crack down on bullies.

 Most of this new bullying legislation, introduced by McGuinty’s Liberal government this November 30, focuses on bullies at elementary and secondary schools, including those who harass young people who are perceived to be or are gay. Those found guilty of harassing others at their school to a point that makes their lives hell may now be subject to expulsion from school under this legislation, and that is good. Continue reading →

 (Niagara At Large is posting the following media release from the office of Welland, Ontario Riding MPP Cindy Forster for your information.)

 Queen’s Park – Newly elected MPP Cindy Forster used her first question in the Ontario Legislature to tell the government local seniors deserve better home care services.

Welland Riding MPP Cindy Forster. File photo by Doug Draper

“The Niagara peninsula has one of the largest concentrations of seniors in Ontario and Canada. Yet, the services that these seniors need to stay healthy in their homes are hard to access and are inconsistent in the Niagara peninsula and across the province,” said Forster, the NDP member for a Welland Riding constituency that includes Welland, Port Colborne, Wainfleet and and the south end of St. Catharines.

 Yesterday, Port Colborne City Council unanimously passed a motion urging the provincial government to increase the funding for supportive home care for seniors. The council’s motion cited the cost effectiveness of home care, which often allows seniors to remain independent, and avoid costly hospitalisations. Continue reading →

A Note from NAL publisher Doug Draper

Yes, that’s right. Niagara At Large will be back in full swing beginning Monday, December  5. Not that we have completely gone away.

Old Sea Pines Inn - our getaway with good friends on Cape Cod. Photo by Doug Draper

For all of our many regular visitors to this independent news and commentary site, we’ve continued posting news, commentary and comments from readers over the past week, although we’ve not been as prolific as we often are in the amount of content that goes on this site. It is hard to do that while you are visiting friends at a nice inn called Old Sea Pines on Cape Cod or walking a beach along Cape Cod Bay.

Our favourite walking beach on Cape Cod Bay

We have just returned from the Cape and we’re shaking the sand out of our shoes and stoking the fires for the next week. As we all know, there are a good need of issues that need to be addressed in our greater Niagara region and Niagara At Large intends to address them with the same kind of insight and vigor that few other media venues in the area employ any more.

In the meantime, we would like to get a bit of feedback for you on the following. How would you feel about Niagara At Large featuring advertising on this site in the New Year? We are considering  featuring ads from locally owned, independent businesses only in order to raise some income to keep Niagara At Large alive. We also wish to ask you how you would feel if this site appealed to readers for donations to help sustain it. How do you feel  about site like this that asks for financial support from its readers?

Please share your views on these questions below and thank you for your past interest and support in this site. We are encouraged by your support and look forward to all future contributions from our readers, including news and commentary that we can post here.

By Doug Draper

 “Give me love, give my life, give me peace on earth.”

–         Lyrics by George Harrison

 For those of us who grew up on The Beatles, but even if we didn’t, he was one of the great ones. He was known to so many as the ‘the quiet one’.

George Harrison always had to work harder to  live up to the song writing wonders  of his mates, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who  continue to go down  as one of the greatest song-writing teams of the past 50 years. And he did it!

Through such great songs as ‘Here Comes The Sun’, ‘Something’ and ‘As My Guitar Gently Weeps’, George put himself in the same regal company as anyone else who wrote songs that any of the greatest, from Frank Sinatra to any of the other greatest musicians from the [past half century would sing or play

George Harrison died 10 years ago this late November and for those of us who loved George Harrison’s music and the kindness for the world he stood for, this is a time to sit for a few moments and  remember. George was a person of peace.

 Bless you George and that great opening chord – some of us are still trying to figure it out – at the start of ‘A Hard Day’s Night’.

Niagara At Large will get back to local issues but post your view on this one below.

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper

This late November week, before joining more than 30 of my American friends for a traditional American Thanksgiving feast at a warm and wonderful Cape Cod inn called Old Sea Pines, I ventured out to the very tip of the Cape – about as far east as you can go in these parts before falling into the Atlantic Ocean.

It was here, on this fragile finger of sand dunes and evergreens curling out to sea , at a place called Race Point off  Provincetown,  that the legendary 19^th century essayist Henry David Thoreau once said; “A man may stand there and put all America behind him.”

That’s what my wife and I decided to do for a precious few days, put all America, along with my native Niagara and Canada, behind us, and enjoy some time with friends, walking a beach, sitting near the fireplace with a book about all the famous authors and actors who lived here, and strumming a few tunes on the guitar. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

 Okay, so we’ve had Occupy Buffalo and Occupy Toronto and all the other occupations in cities and towns across the continent to draw attention to the greed of a few and the declining fortunes of the rest of us who make up the 99%. Now wher does the Occupy movement go next?

The kind of encampment the 1% likes. Bet they won't pepper spray this one.

 You don’t have to spend cold nights sleeping in a tent to Occupy Christmas and you don’t have to worry about being evicted and pepper sprayed. We can Occupy Christmas by spending the next four weeks up to and including Boxing Day not purchasing a single item from big box, corporate-owned stores. We can make a Yuletide pledge to make all of our purchases at locally-owned, independent shops instead. Continue reading →

  By Dan Wilson

 It seems that as soon as the snow starts to fly this question rears its ugly head. But it’s usually the “other side” that raises it, offended that some people are offended by such an “innocuous” salutation. So I’m going to take a stab at explaining it, being one of those who does take offense to it.

 The simple answer is this: there’s absolutely nothing wrong with saying Merry Christmas to someone else. That is of course, if you’re saying it to someone who has the same beliefs as you do, such as a family member, close friend or someone you know from church.

 However, if the recipient, let’s say a total stranger you encounter on the street or at the shopping mall, has a “problem” with Christmas, Christianity in general or is affiliated with a different religion (or rejects religion altogether), there might be some friction. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is pleased to post the following media release from the Ottawa-based citizens group, the Council of Canadians, for our readers to review and comment on.)

In the Ontario government’s (November 22) Throne Speech, it stated, “Your government also knows that Ontario’s wealth is not just economic — it is found in our abundance of natural beauty and resources, and we all have a duty to protect it. That’s why your government will follow through on its goal to become the continent’s water innovation leader by 2015 and work with environmental experts and community groups to develop and introduce a Great Lakes Protection Act.”

The Council of Canadians welcomes the commitment to the Great Lakes noted in yesterday’s Throne Speech. We believe that the Great Lakes must be recognized as a commons, public trust and protected bio-region. We intend to work with the Ontario Legislature to ensure that these critical principles are reflected in the new Great Lakes Protection Act. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following November 24 media release from the Ontario Conservative Party for your information.)

NEWS:

QUEEN’S PARK — Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak said Dalton McGuinty’s voluntary wage freeze has failed everyone except the union bosses that helped him get re-elected. Hudak renewed his call for a mandatory, legislated wage freeze that will save the government up to $2 billion over just two years.

Ontario Conservative leader Tim Hudak

Dalton McGuinty implemented a two-year voluntary wage freeze for public sector workers in March 2010. While the government’s 300,000 non-unionized workers had no choice but to comply, arbitrators and the union bosses representing 700,000 unionized workers have thumbed their noses at the wage freeze – continuing to accept pay raises and bonuses. Since the voluntary freeze was put in place, thousands of non-unionized workers have joined unions to circumvent Dalton McGuinty’s failed wage freeze. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

 A chief Ontario coroner’s inquest into the circumstances surrounding the death of Fort Erie teen Reilly Anzovino has been adjourned again, and that is a good thing.

Reilly Anzovino

 Dr. Jack Stanborough, the presiding coroner, ruled in favour of the adjournment after hearing statements from Maureen Currie, the new lawyer the family has retained, and from Reilly’s father, Tim Anzovino, asking for at least two more weeks to review the volumes of information that have accumulated following the 18-year old’s death in the early hours of December 27, 2009. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is pleased to post the following media release from the Niagara Parks Commission about holiday season events around the Falls for your information.)

 NIAGARA FALLS, ON. — Spend this holiday season walking through a real Winter Wonderland at Niagara Parks.

Carousel near Falls is a slice of Niagara Parks' Winter Wonderland festivities. Photo courtesy of Niagara Parks Commission.

The Winter Festival of Lights is already well known for adding a twinkle to Niagara Falls in the winter, and The Niagara Parks Commission (NPC) is adding new and exciting attractions to the traditional lighting displays.

 The centerpiece of this winter showcase will be the Victorian Candy Land at Queen Victoria Place with its vintage winter carousel overlooking the Falls, placed amid a glistening display of seasonal décor prepared by the Niagara Parks garden design team. Families will also have a chance to make their own s’mores over an open fire. Continue reading →

A Brief news Commentary from Doug Draper

 While other cities –New York, Vancouver and Toronto included – move to clear out encampments of Occupy movement in their parks – reports from Buffalo so far say that the city’s mayor has no plans to evict the Occupiers there.

Visit Occupy Buffalo at http://www.occupy buffalo.org

 Niagara At Large paid a brief visit earlier this November to the encampment located on Washington Square in  front of Buffalo’s towering city hall and Occupiers said at the time that the city was openly expressing its respect for their right to demonstrate for economic justice for the 99 %.

 In return, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown told local media recently there are no plans to remove the Occupiers because, according to one PBS-WNED report, “they have been respectful and are keeping the square in front of city hall clean.” Continue reading →

  By Mark Taliano and Tori Crispo

 This past weekend’s  2,000 strong  ‘Evict Rob Ford March’ – a response to Mayor Ford’s efforts to evict the occupiers from St. James Park in Toronto, Ontario – emphasized the  strength of the Occupy movement. It also emphasized the weakness of current government policies as they relate to the 99 %. 

Photo courtest of Mark Taliano

 The corporate friendly City of Toronto is about to reduce subsidized housing for the poor, close youth hostels,  close libraries, and weaken social services at a time of need, when they should be doing the exact opposite.  If the “tent city” at St. James Park is forced to de-occupy, many ofToronto’s most fragile citizens will lose yet another support system, and they will be forced to rely on the cold political austerity of a city that is treating them as less than worthy people. Continue reading →

By Angela Bischoff, Ontario Clean Air Alliance

Despite the fact that Ontario has a $16 billion deficit, Conservative Opposition Leader Tim Hudak and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath are asking Premier McGuinty to increase the province’s deficit by $350 million by removing the HST from home heating bills.

Angela Bischoff, Ontario Clean Air Alliance

While we recognize that some Ontarians are struggling to pay their heating bills, the opposition’s proposed solution is fiscally and environmentally irresponsible.  Fortunately, there is a better solution: invest in energy conservation and efficiency.

By investing in energy efficiency we can create jobs in Ontario right now and permanently reduce our home heating bills while reducing the outflow of Ontario dollars to Alberta to purchase natural gas.

The main barrier to home energy retrofits is their high up-front capital cost.  However, Ontario’s electric and natural gas utilities (e.g., Toronto Hydro, London Hydro, Hydro One, North Bay Hydro, Enbridge and Union Gas) can eliminate this barrier by:

·    Providing financial incentives and low interest, on-bill financing for home energy retrofits; and
·    Establishing rental programs for high-efficiency water heaters and furnaces, thermal storage units (for those with electric heating), and solar and geothermal heating systems.

Please email Tim Hudak and Andrea Horwath ( cc me ) and ask them to advocate for energy solutions that will lower our energy bills, create jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions while not increasing the provincial deficit.

P.S. For more info, see our report An Energy Efficiency Strategy for Ontario’s Homes, Buildings and Industries

Angela Bischoff is the outreach director of the Toronto-based citizens group, Ontario Clean Air Alliance.

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

By Willy Noiles

Niagara’s regional council, for the first time in its 41-year history, has rejected advice it sought from a local municipality on how to fill a vacant council seat.

Cindy Forster is now the Welland Riding's MPP. Municpal leaders are still struggling over how to fill her vacant seat at regional council.

In this case, the municipality was Welland and the seat was the one vacated by Cindy Forster, who won the the Welland Riding in last month’s provincial election. Forster, along with George Marshall, won the city’s two regional seats in last year’s municipal elections. Former Welland mayor Damian Goulborne finished third in the race.

When Forster’s seat was declared vacant Oct. 27, Regional council asked for Welland’s recommendation on how to fill the seat at the Region. Welland’s council began with a motion to appoint Goulborne, but that motion was defeated by one vote. City councillors then voted seven to six to hold a by-election at an estimated cost to the region of $100,000.

At this Thursday’s (November 17) regional council meeting, many councillors there raised the cost of a by-election as their reason for voting against Welland’s recommendation. The money would have come from the projected $1.2 million unaccounted for surplus from the 2011 budget. Continue reading →

By Maude Barlow and Wenonah Hauter

(An Niagara At Large note – The following article, written by Council of Canadians head Maude Barlow and Wenonah Hauter, director of the United Nation’s Food& Water Watch, appeared in The Buffalo News this November 13. A warning on what could be a serious threat the Niagara River and Lake Ontario – a source of drinking water for millions of Ontario and New York residents – NAL posts with the permission of the Ottawa-based citizens group, Council of Canadians.)

Niagara Falls isn’t just a place where newlyweds go to snap pictures.

Council of Canadians head Maude Barlow. Photo courtest of Council of Canadians.

It’s an international treasure that feeds into Lake Ontario and provides drinking water to Toronto and beyond. And now, its future is in the hands of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, both of which are pushing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the state, as well as the Niagara Falls Water Board, which will soon decide whether or not to accept toxic fracking waste trucked in from around the state. Get ready Niagara — you’re about to get fracked.

Many Americans are familiar with the disaster at Love Canal and the ensuing demand for stronger environmental regulation after a corporation buried massive amounts of toxic chemicals around Niagara Falls — chemicals that saddled thousands of residents with chronic health problems ranging from birth defects to cancer. Now the oil and gas industry wants to send its toxic waste to the city’s wastewater treatment plant, which discharges into the Niagara River, into Niagara Falls and eventually into Lake Ontario. Continue reading →

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper

Late this October a lone town councillor in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario named Jamie King tabled a resolution that should be heeded by everyone whose health and welfare depend on the quality of water we draw from our Great Lakes for drinking and other purposes.

It was a resolution that called on r government leaders on both sides of the Canada/U.S. border – municipal, provincial, state and federal – to investigate a plan to take the chemically contaminated waters from hydraulic fracturing (also known as fracking) operations in the northeastern United States and discharge it to the Niagara River near the world-renown Horseshoe and American Falls through a municipal wastewater treatment plant in Niagara Falls, New York. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

When the Ontario New Democrats table a private members bill in the weeks ahead, calling for the removal of Harmonized Sales Tax from home heating bills, a Niagara member of the governing Liberal Party says he will support it.

Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor

“I certainly believe the HST (a combination of the federal GST and provincial sales tax or PST) should be taken off,” said Craitor, who said he believed home heating should have been exempted by the provincial and federal governments when it was introduced in Ontario two summers ago. I believe it should be taken off for home heating right across the country,” he added. “It is an essential service. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

As if the antics of the Niagara Health System over the past decade haven’t already put our heads through, here is another mental twister for you.

Niagara Health System interum CEO Sue Matthews is lavished by Ontario Hospital Associaion with 'excellence' award for nursing leadership.

Try to wrap a rational mind around this. A mere two days after a public survey was released this November 9, confirming that a broad cross section of Niagara residents have little or no trust or confidence in the way the NHS is running a majority of the hospital services in this region, we learn that the NHS’s interim president and CEO Sue Matthews was off to Toronto to receive an “Award of Excellence in Nursing Leadership.” That same day – December 11, Lorretta Tirabassi-Olinski, president of Ontario Nurses Association Local 26 representing nurses working for the NHS, released an open letter charging that, in the ONA local’s view, a “crisis situation” has been reached as far as workload and staffing at NHS hospital sites.

“No one at the Niagara Health System can say they have been unaware of the issues related to poor staffing, the inability for staff to get a day off work even to attend education sessions and subsequently less than adequate resources available to provide optimal care to their patients,” said Tirabassi-Olinski in her letter.

“Nurses are often called at home several times a day on their days off to come in and work overtime shifts so that their peers get some relief, knowing that their peers will come in for them when they too need extra staff to help with the demand to provide optimal patient care. Often times they are still faced with poor staffing, inadequate resources and support services that close up shop at 4 p.m. Monday to Friday.” Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano and Tori Crispo

Pulitzer Prize winning author Chris Hedges, in Death Of The Liberal Class, says “to live in the fullest sense of the word, to exist as free and independent human beings means to defy injustice.”

The occupier encampment hanging in there in Toronto. Photo courtesy of Mark Taliano.

Occupiers at St. James Park, Toronto, and the growing number of people who support the Occupiers Movement, are productively and peacefully fighting societal injustices, and for this, they should be proud.

They should be thanked, as well!

One glaring injustice is media coverage. Much of the media suggests that the park is attracting the homeless. Yes, say the Occupiers, this is true, but what isn’t mentioned is that the park and its adjoining Anglican church has always been a refuge for the homeless. The church has always had a “Good Food Box” program to feed the needy. A box would cost about $3.00 and the food would help sustain them. Currently, the Occupy people are preparing and serving about 1,000 meals a day.  As Reverend Stoute from the church explains; “You’re downtown. There’s going to be people who are fragile. That’s not a product of the Occupy protest. That’s a product of living in the city.” Continue reading →

By Pat Scholfield

(NAL editor’s note – There has long been a feeling among many south Niagara residents that the Niagara Health System was treating them like second-class citizens. The biggest slap for many came when the NHS moved forward with the building of the super hospital complex in west St. Catharines rather than in a more central location in the region. Pat Scholfield was one of those whose call for a central hospital complex went unheeded by former NHS CEO Debbie Sevenpifer and company.)

When Dr. Jack Kitts reviewed the Niagara Health System’s HIP (hospital improvement study) in 2008 he said, “The NHS has little public support.” Support was so bad he questioned whether the NHS would be able to implement the HIP. He recommended an Advisor.

A HIP Advisory Forum was established January 2009 to allow the NHS to better communicate with community partners and to allow them an opportunity to provide input as the HIP is implemented.

Niagara hospital care advocate Pat Scholfield

Trust in the NHS eroded further.

A PR firm was hired to conduct an NHS trust survey. Dr. Terry Flynn, who led the survey, said, “I’ve never seen reputation scores this low”, when reporting the results of his report this November 9. He stated the NHS reputation scores were the worst he has ever seen. Continue reading →

(Niagara at Large is pleased to post the following from the organizers of Garden Walk Buffalo in the great border city of Buffalo, New York.)

Garden Walk Buffalo is looking for submissions of original artwork for use on the Garden Walk 2012 posters, t-shirts and maps. Artwork must be garden-related and should relate to the type of gardens, flowers, and neighborhoods found on Garden Walk Buffalo in late July. This is an excellent opportunity to feature your work to hundreds of local gardeners as well as thousands of visitors.

Garden Walk Poster Art from summers gone by. Courtesy of Garden Walk Buffalo.

Submission tips:
·    Keep Artwork Simple – it needs to reproduce well on a variety of materials. Do not put any type over the design.
·    Try not to use colors or flowers similar to recent artwork used by the GW
·    Artwork should be considered “wearable and salable” for both men and women

Entries are due: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 Continue reading →

(This Remembrance Day note from Ontario Conservative leader Tim Hudak – the only one Niagara At Large received from one of the province’s three main party leaders – is worth a read. NAL is posting it for your information.)

November 11, 2011

Remembrance Day marks the solemn occasion when Canadians gather to honour and pay tribute to those who fought and died for our freedom, and the liberation of millions around the world.

Grave of Canadian WW1 soldier John McCrae, author of the poem 'In Flanders Fields'.

On behalf of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition and the Ontario PC Caucus, I express our deepest gratitude to all the men and women in our Armed Forces.
To those who gave their lives in service of Canada and our values, we remember your sacrifice and cherish the country you made possible.

From Vimy to Dieppe, Korea to Bosnia, Rwanda to Kandahar, their sacrifice for Canada is something we must never take for granted. The debt we owe is insurmountable.

The bombers shot down over German territory, the carnage that took place in the trenches, the IEDs that have taken so many lives in Kandahar province, it his hard to fathom a moment in their boots. Continue reading →