Niagara At Large

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 →

By Doug Draper

I recently drove along Buffalo, New York’s Main Street, past its classic Forest Lawn Cemetery, when my wife Mary said; ‘Look over there in the cemetery. There is a deer!’

Best deer in Buffalo's Forest Lawn Cemetery Park. Photo by Doug Draper

She was right. Near one of the main gates of that cemetery, where Buffalo buries its war dead, a lone deer, looking like an adult female, stood inside the wrought-iron fencing. She stood there majestically in the grass-covered snow as I and a few groups of adults and their children approached for a closer look. I ventured closer for a photo and she barely took four or five steps back. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Just about everyone is grumbling about what a long, cold winter it has been. It has been a tough one – we know, we know!

Only one of the many great gardens to explore in this great city. Photo by Doug Draper

But believe it or not, there are warmer, sunnier days just around the corner. Aside from the first sight of a robin in my backyard this March 9, a reminder to this ‘I’ve-had-enough-of winter’ writer, that there are only weeks to go to warmer days, there was a media release from the people who organize what has become the most popular and largest garden walk event in all of North America.

The media release from Garden Walk Buffalo, an amazing group of volunteers in Buffalo that is doing possibly more to showcase the grand old neighbourhoods in this city than practically anyone else, is calling on even more residents to showcase their lawns and gardens at what will be the 17th anniversary of this very public and open and free event to all who love making the most beautiful use of landscape in an urban environment.

If you enjoy the outdoors and beautiful trees and gardens, don’t miss Garden Walk Buffalo this year – an event that always takes place on the last full Saturday and Sunday of July, and this year takes place on July 30 and 31.

In the meantime, Niagara At Large is pleased to post the following media release for a not-for-profit group that should receive the equivalent of an ‘Order of Ontario’ award north of the border. How about that, Governor Cuomo?

Garden Walk Buffalo garden applications now available

Garden Walk Buffalo invites gardens, and their gardeners, from the Peace Bridge to Main Street and from Erie Basin Marina to Forest Avenue/Rumsey Road to be part of the 17th annual Garden Walk, to be held Saturday and Sunday, July 30 and 31 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Share your garden and show your pride in our neighborhoods and city.

Enter by May 15, 2011
Enter online at http://www.GardenWalkBuffalo.com. If a mailed, paper application is preferred, a printable .pdf application can be found there.

More information can be found at http://www.GardenWalkBuffalo.com.

Garden Walk Buffalo, the largest  garden tour in the U.S., is held the last weekend of July each year. More than 350 residences and businesses throughout the west side of Buffalo open their creative urban gardens for tens of thousands of visitors from around the U.S. and Canada. For more information, visit http://www.GardenWalkBuffalo.com.

High-resolution, print-worthy, professional photography of Garden Walk Buffalo is always available in the Garden Walk Press Kit, found here.

(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 media release, dated this March 11, from the Ontario Conservative Party for your information.)

A Future PC government will restore local decision making powers to municipalities

Ontario Conservative Party leader Tim Hudak

NEWS:

WEST LINCOLN – Today, Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak, MPP for Niagara West-Glanbrook, was joined by West Lincoln Mayor Doug Joyner, Wainfleet Mayor April Jeffs, and members of the West Lincoln and Glanbrook Wind Action Groups to renew his call for a moratorium on Dalton McGuinty’s wind turbine projects—like the one he is forcing on West Lincoln and Wainfleet. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following media release circulated this March 8 by the Niagara, Ontario-based St. Catharines-Thorold Chamber of Commerce. Its contents, including what it says about the widening gap between the revenue Niagara’s regional government takes in through assessment growth and the amount it spends, should be of interest to everyone who lives, works and pays property taxes in this region.)

(Niagara) – With the passing of the 2011 Regional Budget last week, and the announcement of a small break in taxes for ratepayers, the St. Catharines – Thorold Chamber of Commerce continues to have serious concerns about the Region’s finances.

Chamber policy director Kithio Mwanzia

While this was the first regional budget in recent memory that clearly outlines the disparity between the tax rates, real assessment growth and regional expenditure growth, this year’s budget failed to address an increasing gap between assessment growth and expenditure growth. Continue reading →

(The office of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty released the following statement this March 8 on the growing numbers of students that have graduated from high school since his Liberal government took office more than seven years ago.

Niagara At Large posts this media release for your information and welcomes you to share your comments at the end of the post.)

March 8, 2011, Ontario is becoming even more competitive now that more students are graduating from high school.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty

Graduation rates have risen in each of the last six years — going from 68 per cent in 2003–04 to 81 per cent in 2009–10. That’s an increase of 13 percentage points.

The increased graduation rate means about 72,000 more students have graduated than otherwise would have if rates had remained at the 2003-2004 level. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

That’s right when are we getting our brave young Canadian and American people the hell out of there!

One sign of the times.

Never mind this nonsense from the federal governments of Canada and the United States that in Canada’s sake for example, we are going to end “combat operations” there later this year and keep our troops there for some kind of peace-keeping or nation-building exercise, or that the U.S. is going to be out by 2014.

Why are we risking any more of our young peoples limbs and lives, not to mention billions of dollars that could be spent on education, health-care and other nation-building exercises at home, on a country run by a bunch of drug lords that seem to get the support of the majority of the population to keep them back in the Stone Age? Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following media release from the Binational Economic and Tourism Coaltion which is holding its annual summit in Niagara Falls, Ontario this March 10 and 11. Read down for further information on the awards and summit.)

Niagara Falls, New York Mayor Paul Dyster, Buffalo Sabres, Dearborn Street Community Association And Niagara Sport Commission to be
Honored at 6th Annual Binational Star Awards Ceremony March 10.

Niagara Falls, New York Mayor Paul Dyster

The 2011 Binational Summit will kick-off on Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 5:30 p.m. at the Americana Conference Resort & Spa, Niagara Falls, ON with an Opening Reception that includes the Binational Star Awards Ceremony,
Binational Cornucopia Food & Wine Event and 1812 Bicentennial Cultural Showcase, co-hosted by Marta Moszczenska, Canadian Consul General in Buffalo and Kevin Johnson, U.S. Consul General in Toronto.

The winners of the 2010 Binational Star Awards are: Political Sector – Niagara Falls NY Mayor Paul Dyster, Private Sector – Buffalo Sabres, Not-for-Profit Sector – Dearborn Street Community Association, Frontline Service Sector – Niagara Sport Commission. Continue reading →

NAL libya Niagara event, march

Hello Niagara – Join The Discussion This March 10 On The Crisis In Libya. What Can We In This Region, As Global Neighbours, Do To Help?

Niagara At Large is posting this advance on a “mini-march and open discussion” taking place in St. Catharines, Ontario this coming Thursday, March 10 on the ongoing crisis in Libya, and the fight for people in that country for the same rights and freedoms that we too often take for granted here in Canada.

We include an introduction by Susan Howard-Azzeh, a piece activist and brave member of our Niagara community when it comes to human rights issues for peoples in the Middle Easte, and below that, the information on the March 10 event.)

A Note from Susan Howard-Azzeh

The Canadian Libyan Human Rights Committee, based in St. Catharines, Ontario, and peace activists invite you to an open discussion regarding the crisis in Libya. Peace activists and Canadian Libyans are having an on-going conversation regarding what is the best course of action to prevent further loss of life in Libya.

Niagara peace activist Susan Howard-Azzeh

It is a complicated situation. On Friday, March 4,  Mostafa Abduljalil, the Chair of the Transitional Revolutionary Council from the Eastern city of Benigazi, asked the international community via BBC-Arabic for a no-fly zone.

What does that actually entail? What are the consequences of a no-fly zone?

Many people both in Libya and in Canada feel that a no-fly zone is military interference in a soverign country, which could open the door for foreign militaries to enter Libya but not leave. For example, the USA entered Iraq apparently on a humanitarian mission to remove Saddam Hussein, supposedly at the request of some human rights activists in Iraq. Yet years later the US is still in Iraq, the country is in ruins and the Lancet has reported the loss of more than a million civilians. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

It isn’t too many times that Canadians can look across the border at our more entrepreneurial American neighbours and say – ‘Look what we did! This is one of those times we best you folks on something.”

Image courtesy of Niagara Region

One of those times was of those times may have been 30 years ago, when it comes to recycling and some of the good it is doing for the environment.

It was 30 years ago, in 1981, that a few visionaries in Ontario thought it might be a good idea to start community-wide recycling drives in towns and cities across the province, and it sparked a ‘Blue Box’ recycling revolution that eventually spread across the continent. Continue reading →

A Commentary by John Bacher

Within the corridors of power at Brock University, there is an intense debate over the future of a 52-acre meadow with some native tree regeneration, predominately Black Walnut, along that meadow’s edges.

John Bacher at site where trees could grow.

This debate concerns lands owned by Brock University and situated in between the forested Niagara Escarpment and the Glenridge Landfill Rehabilitation Site – a rather clumsy name given to describe a park owned by the Niagara Region and managed by the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority. Continue reading →

The Binational Tourism and Economic Alliance – a coalition of businesses and other groups on the Ontario and New York sides of the Niagara River – is holding its annual conference this March 10 and 11, focused on the many challenges and opportunities we face as a greater Niagara region.

This conference will feature business and tourism leaders, academics and a host of other speakers, actively working to fulfill the potential of the Niagara, Ontario and Erie and Niagara County, New York area as a culturally and economically sustainable international gateway for present and future generations of people who live and work here.

Niagara At Large is posting the agenda for this upcoming conference, titled ‘Binational Dialogues 2011 – Building A Binational Community’, below, along with the conference’s location and contacts for further information. Continue reading →

The not-for-profit group Niagara Action for Animals has circulated a poster for a young cat in desperate need of a loving home and Niagara At Large is publishing it below, with all the information someone looking for a feline companion needs to adopt this kitty.

By Doug Draper

There are the usual pot shots that politicians take at their partisan opponents. Then there are shots that are so cheap and so divorced from reality that one in the media world wonders how giving them publicity adds anything of any value to the public discourse.

Niagara Falls Liberal Riding MPP Kim Craitor

That is how I felt this March 4 when I received a media release from the office of Ontario Conservative leader Tim Hudak suggesting that Niagara Falls Liberal MPP Kim Craitor may not care all that much about the closing of emergency rooms at hospitals in Fort Erie (part of his riding) and Port Colborne because he apparently congratulated Juanita Gledhill, the outgoing chair of the Niagara area Local Health Integrated Network, for doing a “good job.”

For anyone who has paid the least bit of attention to Craitor’s efforts to save these now-defunct emergency rooms, even at the risk of annoying higher ups in the province’s Liberal government, any suggestion that he may have been less than sincere on that file is patently ridiculous. Continue reading →

By John Nicol

(The following is a ‘Lives Lived’ column former St. Catharines Standard reporter and columnist, and now CBC investigative reporter John Nicol wrote for The Globe and Mail this March month on the life and times of the last great daily newspaper publisher in Niagara, Henry Burgoyne.

Niagara At Large reprises it for all in our region who care about building back the kind of journalism Henry and his family worked for more than a century to leave as their legacy.)

Publisher, rebel, philanthropist. Born Aug. 1, 1949, in St. Catharines, Ont. Died Feb. 7 in St. Catharines of cancer, aged 61.

In 1975, Henry Burgoyne walked into The St. Catharines Standard newspaper office to take a job for which he, and not his two sisters, had been destined.

Henry Burgoyne. Photo courtesy of the Burgoyne family.

The only son of William and Dorothy Burgoyne, Henry became the fourth generation of his family to run the paper they had purchased for $1 in 1892.
Problem was, Henry was given the job at 26 because of the early demise of his father. Until then his formal education had included an unceremonious departure from Ridley College and a year of university in New Brunswick. With his penchant for partying and fast cars, he was more likely to go the way of James Dean than Joseph Pulitzer.

But in 1980, he hired a new managing editor (Murray Thomson) with a promise that there would be a fence around the editorial department, and he’d patrol the fence to keep advertisers, politicians and the powerful away from influencing his journalists. The rebel had a cause: to serve the community well with honesty. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

For the first time in recent memory – and I can’t remember the last time – Niagara’s regional council is delivering homeowners a cut in their property taxes.

Here's our 18 bucks. Enjoy it. We may be paying for it big time in the next few years ahead.

That is right folks, for owners of an average home assessed at $210,000 a year, your property taxes will drop this year by slightly more than $18.00 for a total tax bill of about $1,320.

Some of the many regional councillors who pushed hard for the cut, including Bart Maves, one of the councillors for Niagara Falls, repeated what has become a mantra for him; than any money the government is holding in surplus belongs to the taxpayers and should be given back. Andy Petrowski, a councillor for St. Catharines, added at this March 4 council meeting, just minutes before the region’s budget for 2011 was approved, that he has always felt that ratepayers “do a better job of spending their money than governments do.”

Those messages may come across as very appealing, and many ratepayers across the region may argue that getting back something – even if it amounts to slightly less than a nickel a day – is better than being hit with a tax increase. And that may very well be cause for raising a few party balloons in the short-term. But what about the long-term? Continue reading →

“This is a show of art based around urban sprawl,” says Anah Shabbar, a 20-year-old artist from St. Catharines, Ontario and one of seven area artists who will be showcasing their work at a downtown business in the city this Saturday, March 5.

One of the pieces featured by one of the fine young artists featured at this exhibit.

The work on display speaks to themes that touch,  profoundly,  on protecting our environment and the quality of lives we live in our communities, the artist said.
So if you are interested in this unique display of work from young artists in our community, here is a little information on when and where you can view it below.

A group of local St. Catharines artists will be hosting an art show in the unlikeliest of places — a downtown hair salon.

The group show, Urban Sprawl, will take place at Bang On Hair Salon located at 142 St. Paul St. in downtown St. Catharines. It will feature a collection of works by young artists from or based out of the city.

The artists involved in the show work in a number of different disciplines. The exhibit is held in a groovy little salon downtown St. Catharines, where works featured include paintings, photographs and sculptures, to name a few.

URBAN SPRAWL at Bang On Hair Salon
142 St. Paul St., St. Catharines, Ont.
Exhibit runs: Saturday, March 5 to mid April
Opening reception with artists: Saturday, March 5; 7 to 9 p.m.

(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.)

(A Niagara At Large post on a book released by an author in our region. Recievce some information below on meeting the author for a book signing at Chapters book store at the Fairview Mall in St. Catharines, Ontario this Saturday, March 5.)

George Suba struggled through World War II, two dictatorships, and an escape from a concentration camp.

He survived by keeping his eyes and his mind open. In 1948 he backpacked through a war-torn Western Europe. He arrived in Canada in 1950 and became a successful house-builder and property-owner.

Canada has given him back the freedom denied him in Hungary, first by Hitler, and then by the Stalin and the communists. In this book, you will read how he survives in prosperity here in Canada while questioning if too much might sometimes be worse than not enough.
Mr. Subalives in Niagara-on-the-Lake and is currently working on his next book, That’s How Life Is – a second collection of historical reflections and personal essays edited and co-authored by Malcolm Matthews.

George Suba will be at Chapters in the Fairview Mall in St. Catharines, Ontario this Saturday March 5 from 1  to  4 p.m. for a book signing.

(Visit Niagara At Large at for www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary on matters of interest and concern to residents in our greater Niagara region and beyond.)

By Doug Draper

What is it with Ontario’s health minister Deb Matthews?

Since the London-area MPP assumed the Liberal government’s health portfolio in fall of 2009, she seems to have gone out of her way to shun the concerns expressed by Niagara municipal leaders and thousands of the region’s residents while eating virtually every bit of self-serving p.r. the Niagara Health System feeds her whole.

Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews says 'no' again.

And so it went again this March 2 when the province’s NDP leader, Andrea Horwath, asked Matthews in the legislature if she would heed the call from Niagara’s regional government and seven of its 12 local municipal councils to undertake an investigation of the NHS and the way it is implementing its controversial “hospital improvement plan.” Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following media release from Buffalo, N.Y.-based Great Lakes United and a coalition of citizen groups around the Great Lakes basin.)

Conservation and fishing groups are calling on the federal government to improve outdated laws and prevent the next invasion

Buffalo, NY (February 28, 2011) — Asian carp were allowed into this country under a law governing animal imports that was passed in 1900, and which has remained unchanged, despite a drastically different global trade reality. As two species of Asian carp, the bighead and silver carp, knock at the door of the Great Lakes, conservation and fishing groups are calling on federal officials to finally update import screening laws before the next invader gets here.

Asian Carp working their way north from the Mississippi River watershed and now on the verge of invading Lake Michigan.

“Stopping Asian carp should have happened before the first shipment. This incredible threat, this incredible expense, was avoidable,” said Jennifer Nalbone, Director of Navigation and Invasive Species for Great Lakes United. “It’s time for the antiquated Lacey Act to be modernized so that we never have to fight off another invasion like this again.” Continue reading →

A Commentary by Fiona McMurran

When I first heard about the proposed DSBN Academy, I thought it was a joke. A bad joke.

A public board meeing where, once again, the board supported opening a shool for the poor.

In the hopes of getting a more balanced perspective by hearing for myself the District School Board of Niagara’s rationale for this  project to establish what has been described in the media as a school for students from low-income families, I attended the board’s meeting on February 8. I didn’t get the information I wanted from DSBN officials and trustees. What I got was a selling job on a proposal that nobody seemed to be able to adequately describe, let alone defend. Continue reading →

By Sue Salzer

As I watched our Ontario legislature in session today (this February 28), I was impressed with the colourful representative from Welland, Peter Kormos, and his use of the expressive term ‘gonads’.

Fort Erie health care advocate Sue Salzer

Gonads is precisely the term to be used when referring to the council of the City of Hamilton.

They are standing firm and telling the Hamilton/Niagara LHIN (local health integration network) and the province’s minister of health, Deb Matthews, that the downloading of Ambulance service on their taxpayers is unacceptable. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Sometime one wonders how intelligent we humans really are.

We supposedly have more smarts than any other species on the planet when it comes to learning from the past and using that knowledge, if we choose, to make some good, workable decisions for the future.

At this station and most others on the Canadian side of the border, the price of a litre of gas went up about 15 cents within a matter of hours.

But when it comes to such basics as where are we going to continue getting the energy we need to get ourselves around, to fuel our industries, and to keep the lights and the heat on at our homes and businesses, you have to wonder if we are any smarter than the proverbial ants some say will take over the world after we humans have worked our way to extinction.

These were among the thoughts that crossed my mind when a complimentary copy of the Friday, February 26 edition of a St. Catharines, Ontario newspaper was dropped off at my door and I looked at a front-page headline that read; “Drivers fume over price jump at pumps.” A further headline, for the same article reads; “Driver’s lament: ‘I’m captive’ to car.” Continue reading →

A Comment by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

(If you missed the February 25 airing of this Fifth Estate story on the policing at last June’s G20 summit in Toronto, it is titled ‘You Should Have Stayed Home’ and you can watch it online in its entirety at  www.cbc.ca/fifth/2010-2011/youshouldhavestayedathome/ or if the link fails you, go to your search engine and punch in Fifth Estate and CBC and look in the ‘episodes file’.)

On Friday, February 25 , CBC’s investigative news program, The Fifth Estate focused  on what arguablly was one the worst episodes of civil liberties abuse in Canadian history – one that unraveled close to our regional Niagara home, in Toronto, Ontario.

Riot squads, sanctioned by Canada's federal and Ontario governments, roam the streets of Toronto during last June's G20 summit.

The Fifth Estate piece, titled ‘You Should Have Stayed Home’,  highlights   “untold stories” of younger and older citizens from regions across Ontario and Canada, including many from our Niagara region, who gathered in Toronto during the G20 summit last June to promote environmental protection, fairer trade for our country’s workers, the preservation of publicly funded health care and a host of other social justice causes.

Too many of them – more than a thousand – were arrested and detained with none of the normal reading of their rights that a rapist or serial killer would get, even though many of them were attending peaceful rallies on the lawns outside the province’s Queen’s Park legislature.  It was the largest mass arrest of Canadians exercising their right to dissent in the country’s history. Continue reading →

A Preface from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

Niagara At Large has been following reports of excessive force by federally sponsored riot police at last June’s G20 summit in Toronto for the past eight months, and has come to a fundamental conclusion – the abuses of the basic rights of Canadian citizens to assemble and express their views in what is supposed to be an open democracy  were plentiful and beyond all reason  and have yet to be  addressed by a federal government entrusted to uphold the constitutional laws of Canada.

In that spirit, Niagara At Large is posting the following Youtube commentary and video on this site for your information. Whether you agree with the following or not, share your views below. Join in an important debate about where we strike a balance between security and civil liberties in our country.

Here is the Youtube commentary and video. Continue reading →

(The following article, Niagara At Large hopes you read, was written by Zainab Elghul, a 17-year-old Canadian living in Thorold, Ontario and of Libyan descent who is hoping Canada and the rest of the world join Libyans in demanding that Gaddafi “stop committing crimes against (his country’s people) and step down.”)

By Zainab Elghul

What is happening in Libya is no longer a peaceful protest for change of government and it is no longer a violent crackdown on peaceful protestors; it is a massacre and it has been even described as genocide!

Zainab Elghul

Unarmed people in Libya are being shot by machine guns, and the use of warplanes has been numerously attempted and as a result the numbers of the innocent people dying are countless! The numbers of the killed Libyans that are currently disclosed are not close to the real number of the Libyans killed. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is pleased to post the following media release from the not-for-profit palliative-care agency Hospice Niagara.)

Hospice Niagara’s Medical Director, Dr. Brian Kerley, received the Elizabeth J. Latimer Prize in Palliative Care on Thursday, February 24th at the Third Annual Lectureship in Palliative Care at McMaster University.

Dr. Brian Kerley honoured for his work.

The Elizabeth J. Latimer prize recognizes excellence and innovation in palliative care within our local (Niagara, Ontario) region.

Dr. Brian Kerley was born and raised in Niagara. Not only is Dr. Kerley the Medical Director at Hospice Niagara, he is also an assistant Clinical Professor and Niagara Clerkship Coordinator for the Department of Family Medicine and Division of Palliative Care at McMaster University and practicing physician with the Garden City Family Health Team.  Dr. Kerley is also a member of 5 medical associations, and active in a wide range of scholarly and professional activities. Continue reading →

By Chris George

As a parent of a child with anaphylaxis – coping with severe, life threatening allergies – this February’s St. Valentines Day was especially sweet!

Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq speaking with the George family, Lisa, Chris and sons David and Alexander.

My family traveled to Ottawa this week to take part in an important federal government announcement concerning the labelling of allergens on Canadian food products.

Canadian Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced that new labelling laws will ensure allergens are clearly marked on all food products. For the George family – and for thousands of families across Niagara Region – this means a great deal less stress when grocery shopping and at meal time. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

Lee Iacocca once said that there “are no free lunches”. It seemed to be a mantra extolling the virtues of hard work.  Fair enough.  Then along came “free trade” and all of its ensuing inferences and associations.

Who is really in calling the shots?

Somehow free trade was thought to be linked directly to democracy, equality, and the shedding of the yoke of poverty and disease from the world. Turns out, it’s not very “free”, and it’s quite indifferent to poverty and disease, unless there’s money to be made. Continue reading →

By Susan Howard-Azzeh

A delegation to Ottawa last Tuesday,  February 15,  including St. Catharines Libyan Canadians, asked the Canadian government to condemn the current crack down by Moammar Gadhafi on peaceful protesters.

Three young people, including youth from Niagara of Libyan descent, rally in Toronto earlier this February. Photo courtesy of Susan Howard-Azzeh.

The delegation also asked the Canadian government to work with the United Nations  Security Council to establish a no-fly zone to prevent Gadhafi from using the air-force against Libyan people;  to press the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague to hold Gadhafi, his family and his regime responsible for crimes of genocide; called on our government and other governments to freeze the assets of Gadhafi, his family and his senior officials; and called on the Canadian Red Cross to work with their counterparts in both Egypt and Tunisia to provide safe haven areas and medical treatment on the outskirts of Libya. Continue reading →

By Tom Millar

Egad, he’s at it again. Premier McGuinty is pulling away from it. He’s back pedaling from his Green Energy Plan.

Seems McGuinty is doing it every other day, right?! And for good reasons, too.

Just recently, on Friday February 11, 2011, McGuinty pull the plug on offshore wind farms. His reason: There isn’t a lot of science on offshore wind farms.…We need some time to review the science.

Egad, didn’t McGuinty do his homework before approving the tendered Green Energy projects for offshore wind farms? Continue reading →

By Pat Scholfield

Have you ever had to use Ontario Patient Transfer {OPT} services to be
transported from a hospital to home?

Pat Scholfield

The Ombudsman is conducting an investigation into non-emergency medical
transportation services  (MTS).  In Niagara, the Niagara Health System
exclusively uses Ontario Patient Transfer,  a private company out of Hamilton.

Since Port Colborne and Fort Erie had their ERs converted to Urgent Care
Centres, situations occur where a patient calling 911 is transported by ambulance
to a hospital in Welland, Niagara Falls or St. Catharines. Only under extremely
stringent circumstances can an ambulance attend either Port Colborne or Fort Erie former emergency departments.There is no ambulance service to return a patient back to their point of origin. Continue reading →

(Buffalo, New York’s Central Library has one of the finest archives available for items showcasing the history of our greater Niagara region. With that in mind, Niagara At Large is posting the following media release from that library, featuring an exhibit we may all enjoy.)

Travel diaries, posters, photographs and postcards on display

Colorful travel posters, postcards, photographs, diaries and other travel ephemera from the 1920s and 30s are now on display in the Rare Book Room of the Central Library, 1 Lafayette Square, through May 28, 2011.

One of the many vintage images featured at library exhibit.

Travelers and Cosmopolitans: the Tourist is the Other Fellow explores the golden age of travel through the eyes of 2 prominent locals: Hamilton Phelps Clawson (1892 – 1975) and Geneva Thompson Porter (c. 1883 – 1971).

The 1920s marked a significant change in travel habits. More people had more time and more discretionary spending for tourism. Likewise, automobiles, trains, ocean liners, and even zeppelins offered reliable, comfortable, and luxurious methods for transport.

Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

I don’t know about you, but if I entered a room full of people and it was plainly obvious that at least half of them didn’t want me there, I think I know what I would do.

This mock poster depicts some Crystal Beach residents' nightmare image of what their community may one day look like if the condo tower for Bay Beach is approved.

Unless I had nowhere else to go or absolutely had to be there, I would find a way to make a dignified exit.

But that hardly seems to be the way with developers pushing an unpopular building plan on a community, even when it is clear that a critical mass of the residents living their don’t want it. If they can get a majority of the councillors to back the plan and if it then gets the okay following a hearing before the Ontario Municipal Board, just try to show the door to that developer without a long a costly fight.

That seems to be the case in the town of Fort Erie, Ontario where a Greater Toronto Area group of developers – the Molinaro Group – is pushing to follow through with an agreement consummated with the last town council to build a 13-storey condo tower in front of a popular Lake Erie beach in Crystal Beach where most of buildings, residential and commercial, are one or two storeys high. Continue reading →

A News Brief from Niagara At Large

When the District School Board of Niagara makes up its mind it is going to do something, it does it.

Whether it is closing the only secondary school it operated in the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake (as it ultimately did last year), or opening a first-of-a-kind school in Ontario for low-income students, it doesn’t seem to matter how much concern is expressed by people, right up to and including the province’s education minister,  Leona Dombrowsky.

This is one school board that – like it or not – sticks to its guns, and so it did this February 22 when a majority of board members voted to move forward with its plans to open the controversial ‘DSBN Academy’ this coming September in Welland. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

Don’t know whether you heard this because it did not get a lot of coverage in the mainstream press, but Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has announced his intention to freeze the minimum wage.

Ontario government seems like it is asking for a Wisconsin-like labour rebellion here.

McGuinty chose a talk he gave to some well-healed group in Oakville earlier this February to announce his Liberal government’s decision to freeze the minimum wage for countless many families across this province. Lest there be any doubt, these are people who are trying to pay their ever higher hydro, heating, transit, grocery and health-care bills, not to mention their property taxes, for work they are performing at the lowest end of the wage scale.

And isn’t that nice.

It isn’t enough for McGuinty and company to dish out billions of dollars in cuts in corporate taxes to companies like Walmart – Fortune 500 corporations that are making more profits than Genghis Khan could ever imagined on the labour of people in this country and others who could never imagine having enough money to stop worrying about next week’s grocery bills. Continue reading →

A Commentary by John Bacher

Integral to efforts to bulldoze the path for the proposed Canadian Motor Speedway in Fort Erie has been an assault on the basic land-use planning framework of the provincial government.

A Black-Crowned Night Heron, one of the rarer species of birds that visits the Frenchman's Creek watershed now. To what extent will the impact of a motor speedway on the diversity of life in this area be taken into account?

This began with the first “public meeting” of the Niagara Region and Fort Erie on this issue, which did not even mention one of the biggest points of contention with the proposal. This is that the 827 acres proposed for the speedway is currently both agriculturally zoned and designated. Then came another bizarre twist.

Rather than designating the proposal as an urban boundary expansion, it became referred to as a “Special Policy Area.” This provides an exemption from the province’s Growth Management Plan, which is currently holding up urban re-zonings of agricultural land in Smithville and Niagara Falls.

For a while, despite having manipulative public meetings and confusing official plan terminology, there was a firm stand taken by the Niagara Region and the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority on the matter of provincially significant wetlands. Amendments to the Fort Erie and Niagara Region’s official plans, had language that did not approve encroachment of the provincially significant Frenchman’s Creek Wetland complex. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Less than a month after Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty celebrated the “Big Becky” hydro power dig in Niagara Falls as another act in bringing “tremendous progress (and) strength” to the province’s electricity system, the province’s Conservative opposition leader, Tim Hudak, is charging that it is a “boondoggle”  contributing to “hydro bills that have been skyrocketing.”

Ontario Conservative leader Tim Hudak with Niagara Falls riding PC candidate George Lepp.

”It may not be a line item on your hydro bill,” said Hudak during a media briefing he held this February 18 in Niagara Falls, “But you need to know that you’re paying the full cost of Dalton McGuinty’s mismanagement. For Big Becky, your bill should read $137 – and counting.” Continue reading →

By Dylan Powell

Four hundred million animals. Twenty million in Canada. Eighty per cent on fur farms.

A recent Niagara rally against the fur industry.

Those are the stark statistics that surround our domestic fur industry, an industry which in recent years has attempted to re invent itself, moving from coats to trims, from the West to China (and back again) and from blight to “green.” Continue reading →

(In an effort to keep readers up to date on plans to ship radioactive-contaminated material through the lower Great Lakes, including the Welland Canal, Niagara At Large is posting the following letter from Ontario NDP environment critic Peter Tabuns, urging the province’s environment commissioner, Gord Miller, to prepare a special report on the risks such shipments may pose to the world’s most abundant supply of fresh water.)

February 16, 2011
Mr. Gord Miller
Environmental Commissioner of Ontario

Dear Commissioner,

I am writing to ask that your office prepare a special report on the environmental risks associated with the proposed transport of radioactive nuclear steam generators from Bruce Power’s plant in Kincardine across
Ontario’s roads to Owen Sound and then through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway to Sweden for volume-reduction processing.

Ontario NDP environment critic Peter Tabuns

The Government of Ontario is actively supporting this project by allowing Ontario Power Generation, of which the province is the sole shareholder, to amend its agreement with Bruce Power in order to permit the transport of these 16 radioactive steam generators thousands of kilometres instead of following the previously agreed upon plan between OPG and Bruce Power (approved by a 2006 federal environmental assessment) to store the generators in a surface facility until 2043 and then in underground storage. In addition, the province is further supporting this project by providing permits through the Minister of Transportation for the transport of the steamgenerators on Ontario roads. Continue reading →

By Gail Benjafield

The Historical Society of St. Catharines (HSSC) announces a topic of considerable local interest to take place on the evening of Thursday February 24th.

Click on this poster to enlarge it and make it easier to read.

Local Architect Harald Ensslen of MacDonald Zuberec Ensslen will be giving the society and its guests a revealing look into some of the city’s most interesting mid-century buildings. One of them, the Lapierre/Peacock residence has won prestigious design awards, among them the Ontario Association of Architects Award, 2010.

Architecture is an extremely varied topic including European churches, classical temples and early skyscrapers. Modern buildings, specifically those of mid-twentieth century residential design, are often overlooked. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is pleased to post the following media release from the Niagara Park’s Commission for our readers’ interest.)

Niagara Falls, ON – The Niagara Parks Commission (NPC) has proudly launched a new website  niagaraparksnature.com as part of its on-going commitment to environmental stewardship and efforts to promote the preservation of sensitive lands around the Falls and along the Niagara River corridor.

The Niagara Glen Lookout along the lower Niagara River. Photo courtesy of Niagara Parks Commission.

The website was funded in part by the Habitat Stewardship Program of Environment Canada as part of NPC’s efforts to preserve and enhance habitat for Species at Risk. Special features to the page include information on upcoming events such as community clean up days, environmental initiatives and a blog that will be updated regularly with content by Niagara Parks’ naturalists. The new site also offers information for visitors on things to do such as hiking, cycling, bird watching and the increasing popular activity, geocaching. Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

At the risk of coming across as a little hard-hearted here, the more I read about the concerns residents in west St. Catharines are raising over plans for a new interchange off Hwy. 406, the less sympathy I feel for these people.

A random moment on the roads of west St. Catharines. file photo by Doug Draper.

The interchange – the subject this February 15 of a first of what is expected to be a series of public information meetings hosted by the City of St. Catharines, Ontario and Niagara’s regional government – is being proposed for the stretch of Hwy. 406 curling through west St. Catharines to address the traffic congestion in that area now, and forecast to grower even heavier in the future.

Residents living in the area say they fear another interchange, just north of an existing one running on and off Fourth Avenue Louth, will only add to the traffic congestion in their west St. Catharines neighbourhood.

Now these folks are concerned about traffic congestion? Have they been paying the slightest bit of attention to what has been unfolding in that area of the region over the past decade or so? Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

Get ready for a few big changes in the way Niagara, Ontario’s residential waste is collected at curbside.

New waste collecton trucks about to roll out across the region. Photo by Doug Draper

Starting this coming Monday, February 28, if you live in a single family home in Niagara, the amount of household trash destined for a landfill site will be limited to no more than one bag per home per week, unless you want to purchased $1 tags to put out more.

To some who’ve never really caught on to recycling, that one-bag limit may seem like a downer. But here is the upside for the environment and for the more avid recyclers among us. Start this same week, you will now be able to put out your Blue and Grey boxes every week, along with your Green Bin, instead of alternating weeks for paper and cardboard and for plastics and bottles and cans. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

By a margin of four to three, the council of Fort Erie, Ontario has voted down a controversial plan to build a 12-storey condominium along the shores of Lake Erie.

A depiction of the proposed condominium towering over Lake Erie in Crystal Beach.

The vote, delivered at a February 14 council meeting, represents an 11th-hour victory for numerous residents in and beyond the historic Fort Erie community of Crystal Beach who’ve been battling the condo plan for the better part of two years.

Many residents in the area argued that this high-rise condo, advanced by developers who have sited similar multi-storey facilities on the northern shores of Lake Ontario, would constitute an out-of-character intrusion on a community of mostly one- and two-storey homes and business, and would also block access to Bay Beach, one of the last open stretches of beach available to the public along the Niagara shores of Lake Erie. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is pleased to post this piece, promoting a benefit concern of fine Niagara musicians in support of Hospice Niagara, an organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for people facing life-limiting illnesses that you can learn more about by visiting http://www.hospiceniagaraq.ca .)

19th Celebration of Women in Music Benefit Concert in support of Hospice Niagara

The 19th Celebration of Women in Music Benefit concert will be held at The Black Sea Hall on March 6th starting at 4:00pm in support of Hospice Niagara.

BroadBand is an exciting and eclectic group of five versatile Niagara musicians. Violinist Beth Bartley doubles on mandolin and flute. Guitarist Jeff Hale also plays percussion, and singer Betsy Tauro plays percussion, guitar, bass and piano. As well as being an accomplished pianist, Neva Tesolin plays accordion and banjo, and percussionist-drummer Laura Thomas has been known to dust off her old comet for special occasions.  Everyone sings! Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting this piece in the wake of concerns expressed by citizens groups and others, including mayors living in our Welland Canal communities, about plans to ship radioactive scrap from Ontario’s Bruce nuclear plant through the lower Great Lakes.)

By Gordon Edwards, president of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility
Supporters of nuclear power in general — and of Bruce Power in particular — are perplexed at the widespread opposition to Bruce Power’s plan to ship 16 radioactive steam generators to Sweden so that most of the contaminated metal can be melted down and blended with �clean� recycled scrap metal.

Do we want to risk radioactive-contaminated scrap being shipped through a Welland Canal that has had its share of shipping accidents?

As one of those opposed, let me explain my concerns.
During last September’s public hearings in Ottawa on its application for a transport license, Bruce Power said its motive is not to save money, nor to save space, but simply to recycle metal because it’s the right thing to do. Continue reading →

By Rob Foster

The budget for the Town of Lincoln is now complete for 2011, having been voted upon and passed this past February 7.

Town of Lincoln councillor Rob Foster

This is considerably sooner than other governments in Niagara, not to mention across Ontario.  It should be noted, however, that from a Lincoln point of view, this is considerably later than normal over the past 10 years, with most budgets being completed by mid-December.

Lincoln Council has for many years adopted a series of financial principles, particularly around budgets, that have required the municipality and its staff to behave very much like a private corporation – this has meant budgets are completed before the upcoming fiscal year (except when elections are involved).

The benefits to following these values has been important for the Town – tenders and RFPs are out early, best prices are usually garnered and capital projects are able to start as soon as the frost comes out of the ground.

For instance, in 2009, all of the road construction projects came in considerably under budget, allowing many more miles of road to be improved.  The trend continued into 2010, with savings seen in water, sewer and road construction in the municipality.  While some municipalities in Niagara have allowed infrastructure projects costs to balloon, Lincoln has been able to keep capital costs well under control.

But even with all these positives, there are some gray clouds appearing on the horizon, and it is coming down to a very simple question – are smaller towns like Lincoln sustainable into the future?  This was the question when I first came on Council in 2001,  and it is rearing its head again. Continue reading →

By Tom Millar

I read with interest the insert in my electricity utility bill; ‘Customers to receive 10 per cent rebate on electricity bills‘. Then I turned sceptical.

Bala Falls in the Muskoka Lake region being harnessed for hydro power. Image from a 1900 circa postcard of the falls.

One thing I’ve gotten to know is this truism; ‘There is not such thing as a free ride.’

When the going gets tough, Ontario’s Premier Dalton McGuinty rolls out imaginative machinations to cover the short falls in his ‘Green Energy’ policies. And it is not what I want to see play out. It will end with you and me paying much more of our hard earned dollars for electricity and in taxes in the years ahead. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

The shadow of terrorism is almost a universal part of our collective unconsciousness after the 9/11 massacre.  It’s there,  it won’t go away,  and that’s certainly what the terrorists want.  But how best do we deal with it?

Terrorists, by definition, want to sow terror.  Certainly, jet planes crashing into the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon accomplished that. Better international Intelligence may have prevented it, but that’s hindsight; we’ll never know. So how do we best deal with terror?  The answer is simple, but far from easy.  The best way to deal with terror, and to have more control over our lives, is to not allow it into our lives.  Continue reading →

By Susan Howard-Azzeh

We Are Free!

Celebrating freedom in the streets of Cairo.

Thunderous cheering. Joyful shouts of “Egypt is free”! Flags waving. Prayers. Dancing. Tears of relief. Fireworks. Jubilation and celebration exploded across Tahrir Square and Egypt as Omar Suleiman grimly announced, “President Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave his position as president of the republic“.

A short time earlier a helicopter was seen leaving the Presidential palace. Soon we learned the “iron-fisted” Mubarak was already deposited in Sharm el Sheik near the Red Sea. To await trail for corruption?

It is absolutely amazing. Young peaceful men and women of Egypt have toppled a 30-year repressive regime in the world’s largest Arab country! The most peaceful revolution of our time. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

What a difference an election can make.

Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati, standing at back, makes a successful pitch to regional council for support of a resolution for an investigation of the Niagara Health System

Last September, a resolution for an independent investigation of the Niagara Health System and how it is managing our hospitals went down in flames at regional council. This February, with some new voices on the council thanks to last October’s municipal elections, it passed with flying colours. Only three members of council – St. Catharines regional councillors Tim Rigby and Brian Heit and Lincoln councillor Mark Bylsma – voted against it Continue reading →

A Commentary by Doug Draper

In a week when many in Niagara, Ontario have been mourning the death and celebrating the life of Henry Burgoyne – a person who was a great friend and supporter of community-based newspapers – we are witnessing another example of what happens when our family, independently-owned papers fall in to the hands of corporate chains. Continue reading →

By Peter Joe Certo

This week the Buffalo Common Council unanimously passed this resolution relative to our international crossings, summarized below:

An aerial shot of the Peace Bridge crossing from the Fort Erie, Ontario side looking over to Buffalo, N.Y.

Merging the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission & The Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority—The Council adopted a resolution from Council Members Joseph Golombek, Jr. and David A. Rivera requesting United States President Barack Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Spending and Government Efficiency Commission (“SAGE”), and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty to undertake a review of the operations of the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission and the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority and to identify the process to merge these entities so that the shared border crossings can be managed in a more efficient and cost effective manner. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

The provincial government will provide funding to the family of Reilly Anzovino to participate in an inquest into the circumstances surrounding the Fort Erie teen’s death.

Reilly Anzovino

“I am pleased to announce that Reilly’s family (her mother Denise Kennedy) will have provincial assistance in the upcoming coroner’s inquiry into the tragic death of her daughter on Boxing Day of 2009,” said Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor in a February 9. Continue reading →

(Niagara At Large is posting the following media release from the Ontario government on the status of this major energy project for readers’ information.)
February 8, 2011 – McGuinty Government Supports Hydro Power As Part Of Clean Energy Future
Mining on the Niagara Tunnel Project is nearing completion. Upon project completion, the tunnel will provide Ontario with enough clean, renewable hydro power for 160,000 homes annually for the next 100 years.

'Big Becky' drilling machine at work in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Photo courtesy of Niagara Power Generation.

The massive 4,000-tonne boring machine, nicknamed “Big Becky”, is currently tunneling under the City of Niagara Falls. Approximately 90 per cent of the machine’s 10.2-kilometre journey has been completed. When the project is finished, the Sir Adam Beck Generating Station will increase its generating capacity by the equivalent of 200 MW. The project has employed over 230 full-time construction workers and brought approximately $1 billion in related investment into the region. Continue reading →

By Susan Howard-Azzeh

On January 29, 2011 Hosni Mubarak appointed Omar Suleiman as his Vice President, the first vice president in Mubarak’s 30-year regime.

Niagara peace activist Susan Howard-Azzeh

Will Omar Suleiman be the saviour of Egypt? Will he be the next president? Can we count on him to usher in democracy? Both the United States and Israel see Suleiman as their preferred candidate to replace Mubarak. That in itself makes him suspect.

Who is Omar Suleiman? From 1993 until this January, Suleiman was the Chief of Egypt’s feared General Intelligence Service.  He controls the infamous police and secret police we have watched attacking peaceful protesters in Tahrir Square and Alexandria. For years he has also negotiated directly with top US CIA officials bringing “terrorism suspects” to Egypt for “questioning” and torture. One of his and the CIA’s victims was a Canadian citizen, Ahmad El Maati, who was detained and tortured for 22 months.

Continue reading →

By Joan Wiley, a former St. Catharines Standard reporter

Despite the family wealth and the powerful position he held in the community
as publisher of the local newspaper, Henry Burgoyne was a thoroughly unpretentious, decent and grounded individual. He insisted on being called Henry, not Mr. Burgoyne.

Henry Burgoyne with restired editorial page editor for The Standard, Tom Nevens, enjoying a game of golf. Photo courtest of Merv Cripps

Henry gained the respect of the newsroom ‹ never an easy task ‹ when he
endorsed the publication of controversial stories, knowing full well that by
doing so the paper would lose advertising revenue. His principles regarding
the news probably cost him personal friendships as well. I believe  the newspaper was more than a business to Henry  (it was a tangible expression of the high value he placed on professional and personal integrity, an
example of the respect he held for the citizens of Niagara, and a venue to
continue the legacy of his family¹s good name in the community. Continue reading →

By Doug Draper

What can one say about Henry Burgoyne.

I will always remember him as a great lover of life, an uncommonly generous person with people he liked, and the greatest fan Elvis Presley ever had this side of the American border.

Henry Burgoyne, speaking recently at another one of many community events in his beloved Niagara. Photo courtesy of the Burgoyne family.

Yet Henry Burgoyne, who died this February 7 at age 61 following a brave battle with cancer, was much more than that.

He was the last great publisher of the last great independent daily newspaper in Niagara, Ontario before that paper  – The St. Catharines Standard –was sold in 1996 to the first in a string of media chains that have owned and operated it ever since. And as someone who was privileged enough to work with Henry (I never felt like I was working “for” him), he was one of the best friends a journalist could ever have.

Henry became publisher of The Standard after his father, W.B.C. (Bill) Burgoyne died at age 49. By then it had a family legacy that went all the way back to 1892 when his great-grandfather, William Burgoyne, purchased what was then a floundering news publication in the community for a dollar. Continue reading →

Since Debbie Sevenpifer was ousted from her job this January 18 as Niagara Health System’s president and CEO, Niagara At Large has received one question more than any other from our readers.

How much of our province's scarce hospital care dollars is ousted Niagara Health System CEO Debbie Sevenpifer walking away with?

We know that Sevenpifer was paid more than $340,000 a year in salary and benefits for being the top administrator at an NHS responsible for managing a majority of the hospital services in across the Niagara, Ontario region. That is more than $20,000 more a year than Canada’s prime minister is paid more than $120,000 more than Ontario’s premier receives in compensation.

Yet we are being told by members of NHS’s board that Sevenpifer’s severance pay may never be made public. Continue reading →