Niagara At Large

The following commentary originally appeared in the online publication  called Canada Uncut, and is being reposted here for our readers with the permission of Canada Uncut. You can visit that publication’s site at http://canadauncut.net/facts/the_banks.php

Studying Tax Shelters is difficult. The point of these shelters is secrecy. But Professor Leo-Paul Lauzon, of the University of Quebec’s School of Management, did his best. His study of tax avoidance by the five largest Canadian banks (RBC, TD, Bank of Nova Scotia, BMO, and CIBC) found that:

·    These five banks have a minimum of 89 official subsidiaries in tax havens – this suggests the existence of more that have gone undetected.1
·    The data from their financial statements reveals that they have cumulatively dodged at least $16 billion in federal taxes between 1993 and 2007.1 That’s $16 billion that could have paid for better healthcare, more environmental safeguards, education, help for seniors, badly needed infrastructure and social housing, a national day-care strategy, and countless other necessary programs and services.
·    Tax dodging by banks is on the rise. 41% of that $16 billion was lost in the last four years of the study (between 2004 and 2007).1 This corresponds to approximately 30% of the big five banks’ total tax obligation avoided. Continue reading →

(If you want to so do something more to conserve water and help the Earth, Niagara At Large is pleased to run the following media release from the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority for our readers.)

The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Foundation will host a truckload sale of rain barrels on Saturday, April 30th from 9 AM to 1 PM in the parking lot of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s offices at 250 Thorold Road West in Welland.

The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising funds to assist the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) in support of local conservation initiatives that cleanse our water, provide habitat that promotes wildlife diversity, promote education about the importance of our environment and offer opportunities for people to enjoy their natural world. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting this media release about a nice Easter weekend event you may wish to enjoy, for your information.)

Niagara Falls, ON – The Niagara Parks Commission’s (NPC) Floral Showhouse is pleased to once again feature a seasonal favourite – The Easter Flower Display – a Niagara tradition for over 60 years. The popular added feature of real chicks and bunnies on site will also return, a treat for kids and adults alike during the next two weeks.

File photo courtesy of Niagara Parks Commission

The Floral Showhouse features eight different displays each year, so you can return again and again to discover paradise right in the heart of the city.
The show will be ready for the weekend of April 16 – a beautiful place to bring the family on Palm Sunday. Continue reading →

Niagara At Large is posting the following media release, dated April 15, on the province’s decision to make Go Train service to Niagara “permanent” during the summer’s month for our readers information. 

Weekend GO Train service to Niagara Falls will once again make it easier for residents and tourists to visit the region this summer.

The Summer GO Train to Niagara is quickly becoming an annual tradition – marking the start of summer. This year, the Ontario government is pleased to announce permanent Summer Go Train service in Niagara.

“I am pleased that Summer GO Train service is now permanent”, said St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley. “An annual Summer Go Train service provides our region with a new tool to attract visitors to award-winning wineries, restaurants, and celebrated tourist attractions” Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Chalk one up for Niagara’s new regional chair Gary Burroughs and his council when it comes to allowing individuals and groups to speak before full meetings of the council.

Pat Scholfield, a citizen health care advocate, barred from speaking at a regional council meeting last fall and pleased to see delegations now welcome back

At its April 15 meeting, the council scrapped a restriction the former council of Peter Partington approved last fall that would have all-but barred members of the public from speaking before the full council unless they received a green light to make a presentation from a majority of councillors. The restriction, included in a “procedural bylaw” passed last fall, directed citizen delegations to take their concerns to “standing committees” of the council that are typically held scheduled during weekday mornings and afternoon, and do not include a full complement of directly elected councillors and local municipal mayors.

The restriction raised strong concerns from a number of individuals and citizen groups across the region that felt it was unfair on at least a few grounds, beginning with the fact that, in many cases, they would have to take time away from work to appear before a standing committee. Many also said they would prefer to take any information and concerns they have to the full council, in front of the same Cable 10 Cogeco cameras the councillors also use to get their messages across to a wider audience. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

The years-long battle between many of the residents of the Township of Wainfleet, Ontario and Niagara’s regional government to construct water and wastewater pipes through the municipality to solve problems with leaking private septic systems is officially over. Continue reading →

Here is some breaking news Niagara At Large is pleased to share with you on Wilbur the pot-bellied pig as a follow up to our recent story on this guy needing a home.

Enjoy your new home Wilbur

Great news, Wilbur has been adopted!!
He was adopted to rescue farm in Waterloo.
Thank you to all of you for your help on getting him the exposure needed to find his new home!

Regards,
Kevin Strooband
Executive Director

Lincoln County Humane Society

By Doug Draper

“The ball is now in her court,” says Port Colborne, Ontario Mayor Vance Badawey following an April 12 meeting he participated in with Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews over the state of hospital services in Niagara.

Port Colborne Mayor Vance Badawey

“The minister has an opportunity to be a part of our team. … to be part of the solution,” Badawey (who joined Niagara regional chairman Gary Burroughs, Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor and the mayors of Fort Erie, Welland and Niagara Falls) told Niagara At Large during an interview this April 14. “The time to do it is now.”

In letter Badawey sent to Matthews and shared with Niagara At Large, he went on to conclude that “together, we feel we can continue to make needed changes and focus on strengthening the quality of health care in the region, in turn, ensuring equitable access of health care services for all Niagara residents.”

“This is an opportunity,” the Port Colborne mayor wrote Matthews. “We hope you seize it.” Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following April 13 media release from the campaign office of Welland Riding NDP candidate Malcolm Allen. This site will post releases from other candidates – NDP, Liberal, Conservative or Green  – that we receive for your information.)

Welland – Recent revelations that federal dollars were redirected away from maintaining and improving border infrastructure shows the Harper Conservatives’ contempt for border communities, says the Welland Riding’s NDP incumbent Malcolm Allen.

NDP Welland Riding incumbent Malcolm Allen

Yesterday, a leaked report revealed that the Auditor General slams the Conservatives for using $50 million of the Border Infrastructure Fund – meant for “investments to reduce border congestion” – for unrelated G8 projects. They include $275,000 on public toilets far away from the summit site, $100,000 on a gazebo an hour away, and $1.1 million on sidewalk and tree upgrade 100 kilometers away. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

The family of Fort Erie teen Reilly Anzovino, whose death following a traffic accident more than a year ago has raised serious questions about the Niagara Health System’s decision to close emergency rooms in Fort Erie and Port Colborne, will receive the provincial funding  support they need  for legal representation at an Coroner’s inquest into the tragedy.

Reilly Anzovino

Reilly died at age 18 following a car accident on Highway 3 between her hometown of Fort Erie and Port Colborne. She was still alive while she was being ambulanced to an emergency room at a hospital in Welland because the emergency rooms at the hospitals in Fort Erie and Port Colborne were closed months earlier, in 2009, by the Niagara Health System responsible for managing most of the hospital services across the region. Continue reading →

By Dan Wilson

“No! No different! Only different in your mind. You must unlearn what you have learned.” – Yoda to Luke, The Empire Strikes Back

I have this friend. He’s a great guy, concerned about the environment, social justice issues, local and international politics, sustainable living, heritage preservation and so on. He has so much integrity, passion and commitment that he started an online newspaper, devoting most of his free time and energy to inform and educate the masses (and he doesn’t even get paid for it!).

He’s also a huge animal lover. For as long as I can remember he’s written about issues concerning animals. He’s always condemned local and national acts of animal cruelty. He’s called for stronger laws to protect animals we call pets from abuse. He’s written against the insidious past-time known as sport hunting. And he’s been a relentless pain in the butt towards those who keep whales in captivity.

He supports local animal rights groups when they hold their protests and vigils, advertises and covers various lectures and symposiums to enlighten the public on animal issues, and even features animal adoptions on his website. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Ontario’s Health Minister Deb Matthews is apparently willing to consider an independent review of the Niagara Health System and its ‘Hospital Improvement Plan,’ according to Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor, who joined Niagara regional chair Gary Burroughs, and the mayors of Niagara Falls, Port Colborne and Fort Erie during a meeting with the minister today.

“It went well,” said Craitor of the meeting with the minister attended by Burroughs and Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati,  Port Colborne Mayor Vance Badawey and Fort Erie Mayor Doug Martin.

“She is prepared to look at … an independent review,” Craitor said,  although a decision on moving forward with a review or a more full investigation, which was what the Niagara region’s council and seven local councils across the region asked for, remains in the air.

”I thought is was a very good meeting,” said the region’s chair, Gary Burroughs, during an interview with Niagara At Large.  She is at least considering a review of the Niagara Health System’s ‘hospital improvement plan’ and “she will get back to us,” said Burroughs, addin that he is  “extremely hopeful” that the meeting with Matthews will lead to an independent review. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

There is a classic old Three Stooges film about the three knuckleheads pretending to be plumbers and botching things up so badly in a house they were working on that water started squirting out from electrical appliance in the place.

Hey, knuckleheads! Who's running this place anyway?

When one of the house servants goes to turn the stove on and water comes showering out of the elements and bursting from a light fixture on the kitchen ceiling, he lets out with the words; “This house has sure gone crazy.”

These days it seems like Fort Erie, Ontario – a border community in Niagara I used to think had its act together as much as any municipality can in an age when so many municipalities across the continent are facing some pretty serious economic challenges – is a municipality that has sure gone crazy. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Every time I’ve written a column that speaks to being kind to animals, I’ve always been able to count on at least a few of you saying; ‘What are you getting so soppy about? They are only animals.”

A deer, among the tombstones, looks over the nest of a mother goose in a Buffalo cemetery. Photo by Doug Draper

I can almost understand from a rigid Christian point of view – read the first passages in the Book of Genesis in The Bible where it is basically spelled out that humans will dominate the earth and the rest of life is road kill –why every time someone like me comes along and argues for more compassion for the lives and survival of other creatures on this earth, there are those out there who say I am being a bleeding heart, and let’s just go on exploiting and hunting them. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Whether all those Niagara, Ontario residents who have questioned the need for a new police headquarters like it or not, regional councillors are moving forward with plans to build one, for a cost totally tens-of-millions of dollars, in Niagara Falls.

This regional police headquarters in downtown St. Catharines will be demolished.

At a committee-of-the-whole meeting this April 7, a majority of the directly elected representatives and local mayors sitting on the council voted in favour of plans to build the Niagara Falls headquarters and a new district office for the Niagara Regional police in St. Catharines for a total cost of $83 million.

One of the few objectors – St. Catharines Mayor Brian McMullan – put up a vigorous fight over the past few years to keep the headquarters for the NRP in the downtown of his city, where it has been located for more than 40 years. McMullan was visibly upset at the April 7 meeting to learn that the cost of the new headquarters has jumped up from about $300 to $370 per square foot and that there is no longer any reason to believe that the local office of the RCMP and federally operated Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) may not be sharing the facilities. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

Life is full of ironies, but at times like this, it seems we have more than our share of them.

Harper in the Welland Riding this April with a tractor from John Deere, a company that has closed its operations in this region under his watch, looming in the background.

Let’s face it, Welland’s manufacturing base has been totally decimated by trade agreements endorsed by both major parties, but some Wellanders (possibly a majority) will still vote for these parties.  Regardless of the amount and number of tax breaks, tax havens, and bailouts, corporations will and do leave for sunnier climes where labour, health, and environmental concerns don’t shackle them. It’s called economic colonialism, and there are more losers than winners in the equation. Continue reading →

(As many of you may already know, Niagara At Large has a soft spot for animals looking for a good home and, in that spirit, we are posting this piece about Wilbur, a homeless pig we’ve received more than a few emails about over the past week.)

By Linda Crabtree

There is a young pot-bellied pig at the Lincoln County Humane Society on Fourth Ave. in St.Catharines, Ontario who badly needs a home – and fast – before he has a nervous  breakdown.

Wilbur is one nice pig who needs to find a loving home away from barking dogs.

He’s been there for several weeks and he’s in the same room as the big
dogs. The barking is deafening and this poor fellow is taking it as
best he can. To those I have written before, I went to see him today (April 7) as I only live two blocks from the Humane Society.

His name is Wilbur and he’s only two years old. He is housebroken and has been neutered. His beautifully sculpted, rotund piggy body weighs about 200 pounds. He should weigh less, I’m told. He
needs to do some walking. It’s hard to connect with his little piggy
eyes in the environment he’s in but you can tell he’s upset. Who
wouldn’t be. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Well, here is one for the Fonthill Kame – one of the most distinctive and environmental rich resources of land in our greater Niagara region.

One of the many cold water streams running down from the Fonthill Kame and making up the headwaters of the Twelve Mile Creek flowing into Lake Ontario.

A combination of Dave Augustyn, the mayor for Pelham, Ontario and his council, and, this April 6, Niagara’s regional government’s ‘Integrated Community Planning Committee voted a resounding “no” to a baffling attempt by the province’s Ministry of Natural Resources to reduce or fragment boundaries for protecting ecological integrity of a Fonthill Kame-Delta that has been designated as “provincially significant.” Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Our greater Niagara region is one of those blessed places in the world where a rich diversity of food can be grown. But if we don’t go out of our way to purchase the food grown by our local farmers, that bounty may one day be gone.

A sad sign of the times in Niagara. Peach trees were torn out on this farm in west St. Catharines when a processing plant for the fruit in Niagara was closed due to overseas competition. File photo by Doug Draper

Just think about how vulnerable we may become if lose our local access to something as key to our survival as food and become dependent on other regions around the world for it? Bad enough we are so dependent on regions of the world – many of them now so unstable – for oil.

A report prepared a year ago this past March by the Niagara Community Observatory at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario concludes that although “consumers are becoming interested in local foods,” many of us continue to go to big chain grocers to buy that is imported more cheaply from other countries. But at what cost to a local-food producing industry that we could possibly lose forever if we don’t support it? Continue reading →

A Commentary courtesy of Maude Barlow and the Council of Canadians

Canadian taxpayer dollars slated for fighter jets demonstrates Prime Minister Stephen Harper is “not” here for Canadian interests or the environment, says the Council of Canadians.

“For the cost of 10 fighter jets, the Canadian government could power a million homes on green electricity,” says Andrea Harden-Donahue, Energy and Climate Justice Campaigner with the Council of Canadians. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

‘Welcome to The City of Niagara – Population 427,421’.

How about that for a greeting sign, my fellow Niagarians?

This commentary is willing to give up this sign, about a hundred metres away from his home, for one 'City of Niagara' if it might mean a more promising future. Let's at least have a good, open discussion about it.

I was born in Niagara, Ontario almost 60 years ago to this day and I sincerely hope that before I die here, I see signs featuring those words and an whatever the population figure happens to be at the time at every gateway leading into this region – east, west, north and south.

Enough of the same kind of talk I heard when I was a kid growing up in Welland and you had all of these folks arguing that if the two counties and 26 municipalities we had at the time were amalgamated down to one regional government and 12 local municipalities, all of these towns and villages like Crowland and Humberstone and Fonthill and Beamsville and Chippawa would lose their identities, and would probably end up getting short-changed on services too. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following two media releases from the Niagara, Ontario-based Citizens Coalition of Greater Fort Erie, a group battling plans to build a giant NASCAR track on rural lands in the municipality, for our readers information.)

SPEEDWAY CONSORTIUM DELAYS APPEAL DUE TO LACK OF COMPLETED STUDIES, April 4, 2011

Fort Erie, ON – The consortium hoping to build a motor speedway in Fort Erie is not ready to face-off before the Ontario Municipal Board and instead, has requested that the OMB delay the prehearing originally scheduled some time ago to take place on Friday, April 8th.

Architects' rendering of how the NASCAR speedway stadium may look in rural Fort Erie.

The OMB is charged with conducting appeal and review hearings in order to examine all facets of a proposed development project and ultimately rule on its’ viability for the community. The prehearing represents the first phase in this process. Continue reading →

A Foreword by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

In the wake of a new report by the not-for-profit ‘Ontario Health Coalition’, charging that more than 10,000 people across the province are desperately waiting for home care services, Ontario’s NDP is calling on the Liberal government to scrap competitive bidding for home care services.

Ontario NDP health critic slams government on home care

Competitive bidding for the province’s home care system was introduced more than eight years ago by the former Ontario Conservative government of Mike Harris, despite naysaying from then Liberal opposition leader Dalton McGuinty. But when the McGuinty formed a government in 1983, it allowed the bidding to move forward and one of the first victims was the Niagara chapter of the Victoria Order of Nurses, which had been providing home care servces across the region for the better part of a century.

The VON lost the bidding in a highly secretive process (where not even the cost of the bids was made public) to a private sector firm that hired many of the VON nurses back for lower wages and benefits. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting below a media release circulated this April 4, 2011 on the long-gun registry. In the release and in statements Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered during a short stop in the rural Niagara municipality of Wainfleet, he vowed to get rid of the decade old gun registry “once and for all” if his government is re-elected.

In a CBC Radio report, it was noted that the Harper Conservatives are targeting the federal riding of Welland, of which Wainfleet is a part, because in the 2008 federal election, the NDP incumbent, Malcolm Allen only won by “a few hundred votes. Allen joined fellow NDP members and Liberal MPs last year in supporting the continuation of the decade old gun registry, which also has the support of many police departments across the country.)

Niagara At Large welcomes you to share your views on this issue below this post. Please remember that we only post comments on this site by individuals willing to share their first and last names)

An April 4. 2011 media release by the Conservative Party of Canada.

Today (April 4), Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that a re-elected Conservative Government will introduce legislation to scrap the long-gun registry once and for all, and establish a hunting and wildlife advisory panel to ensure that government decisions are based on sound science and balanced advice.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Wainfleet, Ontario. Photo from Conservative Party of Canada website.

Prime Minister Harper pointed out the Government’s strong record of support for law-abiding farmers and hunters.  “Our Government has long opposed the wasteful and ineffective long-gun registry,” Harper said.  “We must stop targeting law-abiding gun owners, and instead focus our resources on real criminals.  That’s why a re-elected majority Conservative Government will scrap the wasteful and inefficient long-gun registry once and for all.” Continue reading →

A  Commentary by Doug Draper

“Canadians enjoy a great privilege that many of them take for granted and don’t realize how appreciated it should be. That privilege is democracy.”

–         Karim Ahmed, a new generation Canadian and native of Egypt, now residing with his family in St. Catharines.

You could almost hear a collective sighs of “oh no” a” from many Canadians a week ago this Friday when word circulated that the federal government was brought down in a non-confidence vote, triggering another election.

Neda Agha-Sultan, a 27-year-old Iranian woman, was shot through the heart two years ago, ralling for the chance Canadians have to vote in a fair and open election.

That’s the reaction this columnist has received over the past week from many in this region. “What a waste of time and money,” one person told me. “I’m so fed up, I’m probably not even going to vote,” said another.

This March 26, as Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with Government General David Johnston to officially dissolve parliament for what will be a May 2 vote, CBC TV played a news piece noting that “people (across the country) are feeling a little less than inspired about another campaign.”  A political science student at Nova Scotia’s Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova told a CBC reporter that “no one” in his classes were talking about the election “because it doesn’t seem to matter.” Another young woman told the reporter she is “not really excited at all (about the election) because I don’t really follow politics all that much.” Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Fifty years ago today, residents living in the Black Creek area of Niagara, Ontario were startled to find an American submarine forced to surface in their community due to the shallowness of the creek waters.

An American sub, on a covert mission, gets tangled up in reeds in Niagara, Ontario's Black Creek. Image courtesy of Paul Kassay.

The  sub allegedly crossed the Niagara River from a port upstream in Buffalo, New York and was on a Cold War-era surveillance exercise when it got tangled up in the mud and reeds in Black Creek. Authorities on the Canadian side of the river quickly reported the incident to Ottawa, and then-Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, furious over what he regarded as a serious breach of Canada’s sovereignty and an act of provocation on the part of the United States, responded with a hotline call to then-U.S. president John F. Kennedy. Continue reading →

(For our readers information, the following is a March 31 media release from Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath, two days before ‘World Autism Day’ this April 2)

QUEEN’S PARK – NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says the McGuinty government is ignoring its own Autism Intervention Program guidelines and is allowing children to lose their therapy prematurely and languish without proper supports.

Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath

“Children with autism and their families are being given the short shrift in Ontario,” Horwath said.  “They are victims of a process that is deeply flawed and terribly unfair.”

Horwath found problems in the government’s Autism Intervention Program (AIP) after filing a Freedom of Information to obtain details about the review of the government’s controversial benchmarking policy.   Benchmarking deems whether a child is making sufficient progress to remain in IBI therapy.

In the $118,000 contract to review the benchmarks, the government’s hand-picked consultant, Dr. Louise LaRose, reported that no psychological data from assessments existed.  This runs afoul of Ministry of Children and Youth Services guideline for the AIP, requiring final assessments before ending a child’s IBI, Horwath says.  It validates the concerns parents across the province have raised with Horwath about missed assessments, arbitrary terminations and lack of fair and transparent protocols, she said. Continue reading →

A News Brief by Doug Draper

It is hard to believe we still don’t have a shovel in the ground after all the many years of discussing the need to build a twin span for the Peace Bridge.

Buffalo, New York area Congressman Brian Higgins makes pitch for expanding Peace Bridge crossing.

The talk has been going on for so long that had someone simply dusted off the blueprints for the original Peace Bridge, built in the 1920s, when serious talk of a new span more than a decade ago, we could, by now have six or bridges just like the original one, serving one of the busiest border crossing areas in all of North America.

Political representatives on both sides of the Canada/U.S. border have pushed over and over again for some movement on constructing a new span. The latest push came this March 30 from U.S. Congressman Brian Higgins, who represents Buffalo, New York area.

For the information of our readers, Niagara At Large is posting a media release from the office of Congressman Higgins below.

Congressman Higgins Meets with U.S. Secretary of Transportation to Discuss Peace Bridge

On Wednesday, March 30 Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-27), a member of the House Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security Committees, met with United States Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood to discuss the Peace Bridge project in Western New York. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

I’d be more inclined to vote for the Green Party Of Canada if they’d simply change their name.

Green Party leader Elizabeth May barred from federal leaders' debates

The million or so supporters of the party don’t seem to mind, but the name evokes connotations of hippies and Flower Power, or some kind of marginalized movement, and the Party is substantively quite different.

Its philosophical basis of environmental stewardship means it is opposed to subsidies for the fossil fuel industry and the nuclear industry on the basis that such incentives are counter-productive to a balanced and sustainable economy that serves the public well being.  Translation? They’re concerned about long-term public welfare rather than short-term corporate profits.  The party sees what science sees, which is that if we don’t transition right now to non-carbon and non-nuclear sources for our energy needs, then we’re making a catastrophic blunder.  (The Japanese nuclear catastrophe should be enough of an incentive to move away from nuclear, and, by extension, carbon fuels, but some federal parties don’t share that opinion.)

Aligning themselves with this mandate, then, are Green Party policies which include their opposition to further corporate taxes cuts, but also initiatives such as their opposition to increases in E.I premiums.

Monies generated from these policies would help make alternate energy sources mainstream, create countless jobs and industries, and render the economy and the environment more sustainable.

Green Party voices deserve a spot at the televised leaders’ debates, and they deserve a spot in the House of Commons.  We owe it to ourselves, and to our democracy.

Maybe they’ll even change their name to something more suitable.  How about The Progressive Party Of Sustainable Growth?

Mark Taliano is a Niagara resident and frequent contributor to Niagara At Large.

(Share your comments below on the decision by a “consortium” of broadcasters to exclude Green Party leader Elizabeth May from the federal leadership debates to be televised later this month and visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary on matters of interest and concern to residents in our greater Niagara region and beyond.)

(Niagara At Large is posting this March 29 media release from Niagara College on the Ontario budget for your information.)

Niagara College is pleased with the funding for literacy, instructional
equipment and 60,000 new postsecondary places announced today as part of
the 2011 provincial budget.

Niagara College president Dan Patterson

“The government is equipping Ontario colleges to train the graduates
we need to grow the province’s economy,” said Niagara College
President Dan Patterson.

“It is vital that we support students in achieving basic skills and literacy, and provide them with the equipment they need, to develop the cutting edge job skills required by employers.” Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Virtually every provincial program, including health care and education, could be the targets for possible cuts as Dalton McGuinty’s Liberal government aims to beat down a projected $16.7-billion budget deficit for the coming year.

Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan

‘Slash and burn’ was a phrase many critics, including the Liberals, tagged on the former Conservative government of Mike Harris when it made numerous deep cuts to environment, education and other programs across the province in the mid-to-lake 1990s. While clearly trying to assure the public there will be no repeat of a scenario like that, the McGuinty Liberals are nevertheless undertaking a review of all programs with an eye to finding areas where they believe cuts can be made without compromising the quality of front-line services. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

In what is very likely the last budget the Ontario Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty will table  before this coming October’s provincial election, the Liberals and opposition Conservatives and NDP have been quick this March 29 to offer their spin.

Niagara At Large is offering you the media releases it has received from Ontario Liberal cabinet minister and St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley, and from the province’s Conservative leader and Niagara area MPP Tim Hudak, and NDP leader and Hamilton area MPP Andrea Horwath.

We will leave it to our readers, for now, to wade the releases below and share their comments. Just try to remember to abide by NAL’s comment guidelines and be civil in your comments and share your full name.

Ontario Liberal Party  Media Release, March 29, 2011

Niagara Families to Benefit from Budget’s Focus on Protecting Education and Health Care

McGuinty Government Invests in 60,000 new higher education spaces, 90,000 more breast cancer screening exams

St. Catharines – The 2011 Ontario Budget continues the McGuinty government’s support of Ontario’s economic recovery. The budget focuses on eliminating the deficit while protecting education and health care, St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley announced today.

Liberal cabinet minister and St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley

“Strategic investments in education and health care lay the foundation for more and better jobs, increased productivity and a better quality of life for all our families in Niagara.  We have a plan that is on track to eliminate the deficit while protecting the gains we have made in our schools and hospitals,” Bradley said.

Niagara College and Brock University will benefit from the 60,000 new post-secondary spaces that the government is funding, while keeping education more affordable for students.

The McGuinty budget expands breast cancer screening in Niagara to reach women between the ages of 30 and 49 who are at high risk for breast cancer due to genetic factors, medical or family history, and support additional exams for women aged 50 to 69 who are currently covered under the program. Province wide there will be 90,000 more screenings funded. Continue reading →

A View by Port Colborne, Ontario Mayor Vance Badawey

There has been a great deal of healthy discussion with respect to Economic Development within the Region of Niagara. My intent is to not get caught up in looking back at what was, rather, to move forward to what will be.

Port Colborne, Ontario Mayor Vance Badawey

To achieve economic recovery we must all contribute, and be focused on, a Regional economic strategy, steering the economy in a direction which builds on our strengths.

“There exists a myriad of valuable resources throughout Niagara.
It’s time to bring them all together and move forward.”

To accomplish this, it is critical that all 12 municipalities, the Region, education institutions, organizations and the private sector work together and contribute to a strategy with NIAGARA in mind versus a parochial mindset. We have a great deal to offer collectively versus individually. There exists a myriad of valuable resources throughout Niagara. It’s time to bring them all together and move forward.
It has already begun. Continue reading →

A Niagara At Large prologue to an important commentary by veteran environmental activist John Jackson

Two years ago this coming June, U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton stood out in the middle of the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara, for an event celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Canada/U.S. Boundary Waters Treaty that led to the creation of the International Joint Commission.

Hillary Clinton, on the Rainbow Bridge two years ago, promises an updated Great Lakes agreement. File photo by Doug Draper

During that moment, on June 13, 2009, Clinton declared that her country was committed to working with Canada to renegotiating the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement that has so much to do with honouring the promise of the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty to protect and preserve one of the largest natural basins of fresh water in the world.

“We have to update (the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement) to reflect new knowledge, new technologies and, unfortunately new threats (to the Great Lakes),” Clinton said.

Almost two years after Clinton made those remarks on the Rainbow Bridge, millions of residents in the Great Lakes basin, on both sides of the Canada/U.S. border, are still waiting for that updated agreement.

Niagara At Large is posting a piece by veteran Canadian environmentalist John Jackson on this subject.

By John Jackson

The review and renegotiation of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement has now been going on for almost seven years. We still don’t know when it will come to a conclusion with the signing of a revised Agreement between Canada and the United States.

Our Great Lakes from space. Photo courtesy of Kevin McMahon from his documentary film Waterlife.

Early in the review process, it became apparent that there was a consensus among the governments and stakeholders that the GLWQA as last amended in 1987 needs to be updated to reflect new threats to the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River ecosystem and our advances in understanding the problems in the basin, and to commit to solutions to these problems. This understanding, however, of the massive threat to the well-being of the Great Lakes basin and its inhabitants has not sufficiently concentrated the minds of the governments on renegotiating the Agreement and getting on with its implementation. Continue reading →

By Arlene White

A common mistake that we human beings regularly make is not being able to see the forest for the trees – missing the big picture because we are so focused on the small details we are involved in that we take the progress we are making or the assets that we have for granted because we are too close to actually see them for the value they provide.

Arlene White

Niagara is like this in many ways – so focused on old definitions, geography and boundaries that were used to describe us, the things that other communities are doing, or that we feel aren’t being done or done well in our region, that we totally miss the great things that are happening, and the opportunities right in front of us.

And there are tremendous opportunities all around us – if we choose to break down old barriers to thinking and how we do things, and start to redefine a “greater” Niagara region that encompasses and promotes the best of what this new Niagara can offer. Continue reading →

By Samantha Craggs

A group of Social Sciences faculty members at Brock have launched a new research unit with a focus on environmental and sustainability issues.

From left, Brock University's Richard Mitchell, Tim Heinmiller, Brad May, Diane Dupont, Steven Renzetti, Tony Ward and Ryan Plummer

The Brock Environmental Sustainability Research Unit (BESRU), which launched last month, is housed within the Department of Tourism and Environment.

“Over the last year, we have been working together, getting to know each other and increasingly recognizing where our interests were coalescing,” said Ryan Plummer, professor of Tourism and Environment and a founding member of BESRU.

The group’s primary areas of research include water resources and resilience, environmental governance, climate change and adaptation, and First-Nations social justice and equity. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

In his first State of the Region address as Niagara, Ontario’s regional chair, Gary Burroughs told hundreds of people packing a banquet hall in Niagara-on-the-Lake this March 25 that he would like to see regional council begin discussions before the end of this year on how all of Niagara might better be governed.

Gary Burroughs takes questions from reporters following his 'State of the Region' address. Photo by Doug Draper

“We need to focus on sustainability and our ability to pay. … We need to recommit to looking at the way we do business and the way we do business (and) this may mean reviewing governance issues which impact on how we do business,” said Burroughs.

“Governance means different things to almost everyone in this room (and) I would like to begin addressing those governance issues in 2011 and I am determined to face those questions head on,” he added to a round of applause from many of those attending the St. Catharines Standard-Thorold Chamber of Commerce-hosted State of the Region event. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Back in the 1960s, 70s and even into the early 80s, when chemical manufacturers in Niagara County, New York were burying some of the most toxic chemicals known to science in leaky dumps along the Niagara River, Ontario Hydro was using a cocktail made up of some of those same poisons to defoliate the ground below its giant hydro towers.

One of the signs Love Canal residents in Niagara Falls, N.Y. displayed in the late 1970s after they learned that dioxin, the most lethal ingredient in 'Agent Orange', was among the chemicals contaminating their neighbourhood.

One of the question is, how much of that chemical cocktail – made up of compounds like dioxin and 2.4-D that happened to be the main ingredients in an ‘Agent Orange’ defoliant the U.S. military used during the War in Vietnam – was sprayed along hydro corridors in the Niagara Falls, Ontario area? And what potential impact did that spraying have on human health and the environment?

These are questions Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati and his council agreed this March 21 that they want the province to answer, and they are questions that were echoed in the provincial legislature this week by Gilles Bisson, an NDP member for the riding of Timmins-James Bay. Continue reading →

(As Niagara At Large readers may know by now, we have a soft spot in our hearts for our furry, four-legged friends. And from time to time, we run a post for one of these great creatures who need a new home. This time it is about Luke, a beautiful dog (check out the photo below) that we found out about through the not-for-profit group Niagara Action for Animals or NAFA, for short. Luke needs a loving home and here is a bit about him and about who you can call if you are interested in embracing him as a member of your family. NAL will let our readers know how things turn out for this fine doggie.)

We have a wonderful 3.5 yr old collie/shepherd mix named Luke.  But we just had our daughter and we have two boys under three and a half years old .  And we both work.

Luke is looking for a new home.

We just don’t seem to have enough time to provide the love, exercise and attention Luke needs. So we have decided it might be better to find him a forever home with people who can give him these things and be active with him as well. We have attached a photo. You can see how beautiful he is.

He is great with our children, no problems there at all. He is good with other dogs, not sure about cats. He loves the off leash parks and plays well with other dogs and runs.

We got Luke from the Nappanee SPCA about 2.5 years ago. We were so lucky to find out how good he is.

He’s up to date on all vaccines, heartworm, etc…
He’s housetrained
He’s neutered
He is not crate trained

Please feel free to call anytime. Don’t hesitate to leave a message. We will get back to you as soon as we can.

Tanya and Ken Bruger
tanyaroberts111@sympatico.ca
kbruger@worldsourcewealth.com
home 905 619 3555
cell 416 558 8161
We live in Ajax

By Doug Draper

Businesses across Niagara, Ontario – fed up with a parochialism they feel is keeping this region from moving forward – are moving forward with the creation of their own ‘Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce’.

In a media release circulated this March 24, a recently established steering committee for an “advocacy group” made up of more than 40 businesses across the region, said it has received a good deal of support from business owners and others for a body that truly speaks with one voice for Niagara when it comes to attracting more jobs and business. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

It was a tragedy that did not happen in this region, but it is one that led to better rules for protecting the rights and safety of all workers across the United States and Canada to this day.

The women are placed in coffins near the place they plunged to their deaths in one of North America's worst workplace disasters.

One hundred years ago this March 25, at 4:45 p.m. on a Saturday in the Washington Place/Greenwich Village area of New York City, a fire broke out on the lower flower of a building where, on the eighth, ninth and tenth floors, hundreds of young women, most Italian and Jewish Immigrants, were working in sweatshop conditions for an outfit called the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

For the second time since the beginning of this year, one of the key figures heading up the Niagara Health System is on the way out.

Ousted NHS CEO Debbie Sevenpifer with outgoing Betty-Lou Souter at left, arguing a case before Niagara's regional government last year for not supporting another investigation of the NHS - Photo by Doug Draper.

“While there have been some very tumultuous times during my term as chair, there have been a number of accomplishments of which I have been very proud to be a part of,” said Souter in a list of her comments forwarded to Niagara At Large through the NHS. Continue reading →

By Susan Howard-Azzeh

Very sad to see the situation in Libya come to this, to a No-fly zone and military intervention.

Susan Howard-Azzeh

If only Libya’s liberation from the Gadhafi regime could have been achieved by the Libyan people themselves and through peaceful means.

Some people disagree with a No-fly zone because it is foreign interference in a sovereign country, with unknown political and economic motivations, which will interfere with the Libyan people’s own process towards democracy.  Some think Libyans are naive in asking for Western military aid – there will be a price to pay and a civilian toll. Personally, I am saddened that regime change is being attempted through military action, not through diplomatic or peaceful democratic reform.  Couldn’t anyone in Gadhafi’s inner circle arrest him and bring him to trial for crimes against humanity?  Can freedom in this world only be attained through violence and death? Continue reading →

We’ve gone back and updated this post to note that we Canadians will be heading to the polls this spring.

Shortly after the Stephen Harper’s Conservative government talked its budget this March 22, NDP leader Jack Layton joined the leaders of the Liberal Party and Parti Qeubecois in expressing displeasure with its overall contents. That led to the  non-confidence vote that defeated  the government this March 25 and triggers an election that will culminate in a vote in the first week of May.

NAL has been asking our readers to share their comments below and how you feel about this election and how you would like it to turn out?  Join the discussion and we will be posting more news and commentary on the races in our region of the country as the days and weeks to the final vote unfold.

(Share your comments below and visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary on matters of interest and concern to residents in our greater Niagara region.)

By Doug Draper

Well, well, well.

As if you should be surprised in this day and age when the Ontario Municipal Board so often tips its hat to the developer over protests from a mass of residents that live in the community.

There you go folks, for better or worse.

So much so that Fort Erie’s recently elected town council finally buckled and gave its final approval, by a vote of four to three this March 22, to a controversial agreement between the town’s last council and a Toronto-area developer to move forward with a 12-storey condo tower in front of one of the few remaining public beaches in Niagara, along the Lake Erie shore. Continue reading →

(This March 21, the NDP member for the Welland Riding called on the federal government to support sugery that may improve the lives of MS patients. Niagara At Large is posting a media release on this matter below.)

OTTAWA – Many Canadians living with MS see hope in the Chronic Cerebro-Spinal Venous Insufficiency (CCSVI) surgery treatment and feel it should be made available in Canada, according to Malcolm Allen.

Welland Riding MP federal member Malcolm Allen

The MP for Welland brought that message to parliament today, as he tabled a large petition calling on the Minister of Health to make CCSVI, also known as liberation therapy or the Zamboni treatment, available to more Canadians by making it available in Canada.

The procedure itself is relatively common for non-MS patients with blockages in their veins. Developed by Italian Dr. Paolo Zamboni with early reports of significant improvements for MS patients, the treatment has become a beacon of hope in the MS community. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Hey folks, check out a blog site called the Crystal Beach Strand!

One of a number of Fort Erie town hall meetings so packed with people concerned about the Bay Beach condo plan that they spilled out into the lobby. Photo by Doug Draper

It must be one smoken’ watchdog site on municipal affairs if both it and Google, Inc., which carries it, and two anonymous commenters are now named in a legal suit filed by the municipality’s Economic and Development and Tourism Corporation. And oh, by the way, you can check out the site for yourself at www.crystalbeachstrand.com.

Then again, don’t go checking out that site until you finish reading the rest of this.

There is an old rule of human nature that is probably as true now as it was going back to the advent of the first printing presses centuries ago. What that rule says is this – if you want to give your opponents more publicity than they have possibly ever hoped for before, then just try to sue them or ban whatever they are saying. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

In response to questioning from Ontario’s NDP leader Andrea Horwath, Health Minister Deb Matthews said this March 21 that the cost of the severance package for the Niagara Health System’s fired CEO Debbie Sevenpifer will eventually be made public.

Public may one day learn cost of Debbie Sevenpifer's severance package. File photo by Doug Draper

“The income of all the people who work in our health care sector with incomes over $100,000 do have that income reported on the sunshine list every year. That includes severance packages, so this information will become public,” said Matthews after Horwath asked her  “how many hundreds of thousands of dollars will Niagara families be on the hook for (Sevenpifer’s) sweetheart severance deal. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Here’s an idea I’ve been tossing around that may get me in trouble – not that I am already in enough trouble – with a few more people.

Melting nukes in Japan - once considered one of world's most secure nuclear power facilities.

Maybe, just maybe, some of those residents’ groups in Niagara and other parts of Ontario and New York State who are so opposed to solar energy and wind farms should be among the first to have their communities targeted for a brand new nuclear power plant. Or at the very least, let them host a warehouse for storing the spent radioactive waste.

How about that for an energy alternative? Well, all of that power we consume has to come from somewhere. Continue reading →

By Tayler Staneff

The halls of Brock University are often filled with student groups fundraising by selling baked goods and other foods to raise money for a certain cause. Walk through MCA Block on any given day and you are bound to see some sort of bake sale or food giveaway.

A scene from a past vegan food event at Brock University, before the bust.

Students line up to purchase vanilla cupcakes and other ‘goodies’… but doesn’t anyone stop and ask, “Where are the hand washing stations?

This is the reality that the Brock Animal Rights Club (BARC) was faced with this past Monday, March 14 during their annual Vegan Taco Day. BARC’s annual vegan taco day has been a huge success for the past five years, bringing line-ups of people to enjoy a cruelty free lunch. This March 14, BARC was at it again, promoting compassionate food choices by handing out free vegan tacos to anyone interested in trying one.
BARC has always distributed quality food in a health conscious and appropriate manner, using gloves, separate spoons and napkins etc. Although this is almost unnecessary due to the lack of animal products and therefore, lack of contamination issues, BARC has always strived to handle the food served in appropriate measures.

Walking through the hallway bake sales, I have never once, seen a table with a “hand-washing station” and rarely see gloves being used. However, BARC’s Vegan Taco Day fells victim to scrutiny this March 14 when the Niagara Health Board showed up saying they received a complaint about the fundraiser. Apparently, someone called in and complained that they did not have the cheese refrigerated (it was non-dairy, so there was no need) and they didn’t have a hand-washing station. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Here is one helluva plan to pursue while the cost of gas and diesel fuel keeps going up, up, up.

Click on this map to blow it up and note the words 'Continue Monitoring Needs' to view where a mid-peninsula highway would go.

Take two or three billion dollars and use it to build a multi-lane highway right through the heart of Niagara’s countryside. And never mind that by the time the plan is approved (if it is approved) and the highway is opened 10 or 20 years from now, cost of gas may be up to 10 a litre (that’s about $40 a gallon for our U.S. readers), and we might be experiencing enough of a global food shortage to wish we never paved over all that farmland.

Then again, why let a few things like that keep us from marching backward to the last century when a number of our provincial and municipal leaders latched on to the idea of constructing a “mid-peninsula highway” south of the Niagara Escarpment as an alternative to adding more lanes to the QEW. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

Sesame Street, television’s teacher to countless kids, was once banned in England.  It was thought that the technical wizardry of the well-constructed shows would dissuade kids from reading.  And they may have been right.  Books don’t have flashy lights, nice music, fast scene changes, and so on.

Mainstream media, on the other hand, hasn’t been banned, but it does feature a great deal of technical wizardry that often glues us to the set. This fixation of form over substance comes with a price though: depth, context, and perspective are lost. There’s a formula for this media technique, and it’s called Jolts Per Minute.  Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

The gorgeous old estate known as Willowbanks is located on a hill in the historic old village of Queenston, Ontario, and will be the setting for a great series of speakers on matters of heritage over the next few months.

The historic Willowbanks estate in Queenston, Ontario. Photo Courtesy of Friends of Willowbanks.

This beautiful building had a date with the wrecking ball a decade ago but finally, a group of caring residents, calling themselves, and some of the municipal councils of the day, including then lord mayor of Niagara-on-the-Lake (the municipality Queenston is a part of) and now Niagara regional chair Gary Burroughs, fought to save it. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

I know that almost any talk of amalgamating government services in Niagara, Ontario is repulsive to a number people, including some I have a lot of respect for.

Dennis Parrass, present chair of Niagara Economic Development Corp., tells regional councillors system is "broken" and "dysfunctional." Photo by Doug Draper

Yet I talk to few people who feel that the status quo is working very well in Niagara when it comes to anything from launching a 21st century transit system (similar to the one Waterloo has) for our region, doing away with a two-tier system for dealing with water and wastewater that is costing too many residents too much for the privilege of turning on a tap in their homes, or drawing more business to our region that will create jobs and keep young people here.

For too long now, Niagara has suffered from some of the worst unemployment rates, lowest average income rates, and highest rates of people in desperate need of food banks and affordable housing in the country. And all the while, we’ve had 12 local municipalities in Niagara that seem more interested in competing with one another over which one gets a new police headquarters or hospital complex or a private business that may be located here, than they are in working together as one Niagara. And we have had one regional council after another that has been too timid to do anything about it. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

I’m almost ashamed to admit that I don’t know as much about my family tree as I would like to so I can’t be completely sure there isn’t a wee bit of Irish blood in me along with a touch of Scottish, English and some of the other stuff.

Some of the early arrivals for last year's St. Patrick's Day parade in Buffalo, New York. Photo by Doug Draper

Then again, on St. Patrick’s Day, it is almost a mute point. Just dig into your closet for a green sweater or shirt, pin on an “Irish for a Day’ button that any of us who care to can pin on an “Irish For A Day” and join the crowd at bars for a pint or more of green beer. And if you are working this St. Patrick’s Day, as many of us are this Thursday, March 17, and can’t make it to the party, don’t despair. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following media release from Paul Miller, the Hamilton-East, Stoney Creek MPP for the Ontario NDP for your information. It includes references to the undisclosed severance package for recently ousted Niagara Health System CEO Debbie Sevenpifer.)

Queen’s Park – With local frontline healthcare in crisis, Ontario must put an end to exorbitant ‘golden handshakes’ given to fired CEOs, says NDP MPP Paul Miller and make all contracts with CEOs publicly available so people know exactly what they’re paying for.

Ontario MPP Paul Miller

“Windsor is facing a long-term care bed shortage, crowded emergency rooms, and surgeries are being cancelled,” said Miller. “Every public healthcare dollar should go to frontline care, not six-figure golden handshakes.”

News reports indicate Warren Chant, recently fired from Windsor’s Hotel Dieu Grace Hospital, received $300,000 in severance.

The revelation comes less than two months after the Niagara Health System dismissed Debbie Sevenpifer but refused to disclose the details of the severance package. Continue reading →

By Vickie Fagan

Maybe it’s the time of year but lately, I’ve been commiserating with a lot of friends and colleagues on the state of their happiness.  Relationship woes, financial hardships, identity crisis, emotional meltdowns, bad – hair days, you name it- there is a significant lack of the big happy out there.

There is a new catch phrase floating around that you may have heard.  “ I need to get my happy back.”  This is an all-encompassing cry for help for 90 percent of the population who generally can’t get through a week without dodging a variety of curve balls. Okay, so I heard it on the “Real Housewives of Atlanta”, sue me but if that group, of over-indulged southern belles has to work to find “happy” then I think it’s safe to say the rest of us are screwed. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Okay, so we know Canada’s economy is suffering so much, according to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservatives that we have to make some sacrifices.

One of CBC's best and brightest, Jian Ghomeshi.

Those sacrifices may apparently come in Harper’s March 22 budget with more corporate tax cuts, more subsidies for the tar sands and close to $30 billion now to be spent on American-manufactured fighter jets – more than $12 billion more than originally estimated. But let’s cut more funding for health care, environmental protection, post-secondary education for future generations and, finally,  for the CBC.

While Harper and his bunch defend a $12-billion override on weapons of destruction they seem hell bent on purchasing, at any cost, from U.S.- based Lockheed-Martin – one of the global king pins of the military-industrial complex – and looks at spending billions more on prisons, why should they care about things as paltry to them as the CBC? Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting this media release from the Shaw Festival as it opens its 50th season as one of Canada’s most popular theatrical venues.)

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, March 14, 2011 . . . Shaw Festival Board of Governors Chair Gary Comerford revealed today that Jackie Maxwell will continue as The Shaw’s Artistic Director for another four years.

Shaw Festival artistic director Jackie Maxwell

“As the Shaw Festival embarks on its momentous 50th season, the Board of Governors of the Shaw Festival are very pleased to announce that Jackie Maxwell’s contract has been extended for four more years,” said Gary Comerford, Chair of the Shaw Festival Board. “It is because of Jackie’s outstanding artistic leadership and dedication that the Shaw Festival is recognized as one of the finest theatrical companies in North America.”  Continue reading →

By Jessi Gilligan

(Niagara At Large thanks The Brock Press for permission to re-post this article.)

Debt: it is one small word, but has a large effect on the economy. From the very beginning of adulthood in Canada, credit is offered – and even encouraged – to young adults.

Brock University student Jessi Gilligan.

According to a report on Canadian debt and income by the Vanier Institute of the Family (VIF), over half of students getting a post-secondary education are paying for it with student loans and will be at an average of $18,000 in debt when they graduate. The students don’t usually worry about it, however. Many of them simply plan to “pay off” their student loans with the professional jobs that will be offered after graduation.

Unfortunately, a pattern that began in mid-2009 warns Canadians that only five per cent of new jobs created will be given to young people, especially 15 to 24-year-olds. Therefore, despite the recent increase of jobs in Canada, there is still a prospect of rising unemployment rates. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

It was a year ago this March that I was driving down one of the busier urban roads in our region and hit a pothole so jagged and deep it rattled the bolts holding together the frame of my car and almost yanked the steering wheel out of my hands.

A monstor pothole, waiting for another victim, on St. Davids Street West in Niagara's Thorold, Ontario community.

I had just had my car in for a front-wheel alignment, along with a couple of ball-joint and tie-rod replacements for a good two or three hundred bucks, and the car was now  driving nice and steady until I hit that crater on the surface of one of the roads we pay for to be maintained with our hard-earned tax money. Suffice to say, I had to go back to the garage for another round of front-wheel work that cost me another two or three hundred dollars.

I’ve always been on the lookout for teeth-rattling potholes – even before that particularly costly incident – and have tried calling the municipal and county, or provincial or state government responsible in our greater bi-national Niagara region to maybe take out a little time from hiring high-priced consultants to tell them what they already know on one issue or another, and to bring out a bit of asphalt and fill the bloody things!

In Niagara, Ontario, you can contact CAA Niagara (this Ontario region’s chapter of the Canadian Automobile Association) and link into its ‘Pothole Watch’ program to fill out a report on car-damaging potholes you know about, and it will bring those potholes to the appropriate government body’s attention. That link is www.caaniagara.ca/pothole . Continue reading →

By Tom Millar

I got a real liking for rivers. Rivers in all seasons of the year. And in particular rivers in Ontario.

I grew up on the river. The Rideau River. That portion of the river that flows through Ottawa.

Well, I spent a lot of time on or around the Rideau River. The family home was just up the hill from the river banks. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Many in Niagara already know how impulsively unthinking and callous Ontario’s minister of health, Deb Matthews, continues to be when it comes to taking their concerns about the deterioration of hospital services in this region seriously.

Jill and her children, Laila, 2, and Benjamin, 4. Photo courtesy of Jill and her family, and the public interest group, Rethink Breast Cancer.

So impulsive, that Matthews – as if she had less mental faculties than an ant – snaps to say that the Niagara Health System, the amalgamated hospital board for the Niagara, Ontario region – is doing an “excellent job.” And she mouths those words, as if they were coming through a voice mail message from a computer, each and every time citizens across this region, along with their municipal leaders, try to point out to her what a disastrous job the NHS is doing on behalf of those among us who need medical help. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

If you drive down Fort Erie, Ontario’s Garrison Road past all of those box stores, strip malls, gas bars and fast food outlets buffered by acres of asphalt lots that make this ‘Canada-U.S. gateway’ so un-aesthetically pleasing to locals and visitors alike, you will now be greeted by a billboard that reads as follows; “Let’s keep development coming, so our children stay.”

This curious sign shows a young child playing on a sandy beach that seems a world away from the cornucopia of cindar-block retail bunkers that line so much of Garrison Road until it moves further west and becomes Hwy. 3. As you progress further west down that highway, the features on either side become greener as prepare, if you so choose, to make a left turn to the historic old summer town of Crystal Beach (home of the late and legendary amusement park of the same name) and a popular public beach still kissing the shores of Lake Erie called Bay Beach. Continue reading →