Niagara At Large

Third-term MPP Michael Coteau takes questions about building a better Province of Ontario

Ontario Liberal Party MPP and leadership hopeful Michael Coteau

“The biggest waste we face in Ontario is the waste of human potential. Doug Ford is in it for tax breaks to the wealthy and big corporations—and cuts for everyone else. I’m in it for children and families, our future.”                                                                           – Ontario Liberal MPP Michael Coteau

News from Ontario Liberal MPP Michael Coteau’s Leadership Campaign

Posted July 17^th, 2019

St. Catharines, Ontario – Michael Coteau, a third-term Liberal MPP and former cabinet minister, visited St. Catharines (this July 16^th) for a full-house neighbourhood meeting with local residents

“Doug Ford says kids today aren’t worth the cost. That’s his message—Ontario doesn’t value you. I was that kid who was told someone like you doesn’t matter,” said Coteau. “And now, someone like me is taking a stand. Continue reading →

If Trump and his Angry Republican Mob Want to Throw them out, we Canadians can let them know they are Always Welcome Here

From left to right, U.S. Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ihan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Occasio-Cortez of New York and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts. All American citizens. All women of colour. And all told by Trump to get out of America if they don’t like it, and “go back” to where they came from.

A Brief Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper

Posted July 16^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

They are young, well-educated, intelligent, progressive minded women – all passionate advocates for universal health care, for access to quality education, for good jobs and living wages, and for protecting our planet for present and future generations – and Donald Trump and his many Republican supporters are treating them like human garbage.

All four are American citizens (three of them born in the United States, and the fourth arrived in the U.S. from Somalia with her family when she was barely 10 years old) and duly elected members of U.S. Congress.

Yet much to the delight of millions of his Republican and Christian Evangelical supporters, Trump has tossed more meat to feed their cruel, hate-filled under belly by tweeting out one of the oldest racist tropes in the white supremacist playbook.

Trump tweeted out that the four U.S. Congresswomen – all women of colour, which is all that it seems to take these days to gin up the once-proud, and now disgraced “Party of Lincoln” – should get out of the United States and “go back” to where they came from because, according to Trump, they “hate” America anyway, apparently because they criticize its dear leader, meaning him. Continue reading →

On Thursday, July 18, the world will celebrate the 101st birthday of Nelson Mandela, a global icon of peace and equality who was the central figure in ending apartheid in South Africa.

News from Brock University in St. Catharines, Niagara

Posted July 16^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Dolana Mogadime, Associate Professor in Brock University’s Faculty of Education. Her great-grandfather, Henry Selby Msimang, was a founding member of a political group that became the African National Congress, later led by Nelson Mandela.

For Brock University’s Dolana Mogadime, educating others on Nelson Mandela’s legacy is more than just part of her job. It’s in her blood. Originally from South Africa, the Associate Professor in Brock’s Faculty of Education came to Canada at the age of seven.

Her great-grandfather, Henry Selby Msimang, was a founding member of a political group that became the African National Congress, later led by Mandela. Her mother, Caroline Goodie Mogadime, was recognized by the Canadian Museum for Human Rights<https://humanrights.ca/> (CMHR) for her contributions to Canada’s anti-apartheid movement.

On Thursday, July 18, the world will celebrate the 101st birthday of Mandela, a global icon of peace and equality who was the central figure in ending apartheid in South Africa. Continue reading →

Province’s Health Minister walks back Doug Ford’s comments on hallway medicine

A News Release from the Office of Ontario Official Opposition and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath

Posted July 16^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Ontario NDP and Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath

QUEEN’S PARK — Last week, speaking from Saskatoon, Doug Ford said his government has addressed hallway medicine, and would end the practice within a year. On Monday (July 15th), Health Minister Christine Elliott walked those comments back.

Official Opposition and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath released the following statement in response:

“Across Ontario, people are waiting hours and hours in emergency rooms, and laying on stretchers in hospital hallways because there aren’t enough hospital beds. Ambulances are forced to wait — sometimes for hours — to offload patients. And some patients are walking away from ER waiting rooms, never getting a chance to see a doctor, because waiting in pain and discomfort becomes unbearable. Continue reading →

Citizens in the Niagara town of Fort Erie, Ontario are fighting to save this green place – Waverly Woods – from being compromised or destroyed for a condo that cpuld go somewhere that isn’t as green with trees as this.

Why Aren’t More Citizens Across this Region Pressing their Councillors for More Effective Rules for Conserving Trees?

A New Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher  Doug Draper

Posted July 14^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Most of us are familiar with old line; “What if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it?”

Well, what if a trees falls or, more to the point, an entire stand of trees is chopped down within ear or eye shot of a community of concerned citizens and there are no rules with enough teeth on the books to stop it?

The felling of this tree and others in Waverly Woods last year caused an outcry among citizens. File Photo courtesy of the group Community Voices for Fort Erie

There were at least two significant cases in this Niagara region this past November 2018 where citizens were faced with a case of trees they cherished being chopped down – one in the Waverly Forest area of Fort Erie where a multi-storey condo is on the drawing board, and one on the historic Randwood Estates property in Niagara-on-the-Lake where the current owner plans to build a new hotel, convention centre and recreational complex.

Tree cutting underway on the property of the Randwood Estate in Niagara-on-the-Lake last year. File Photo courtesy of members of the citizens group SORE (Save Our Randwood Estate)

And in both these cases and others like them, including a clearing of trees by developers in the Thundering Waters Forest in Niagara Falls to make way for a path or road, calls for action against the tree cutters were met with a response from authorities that upset and angered many of them.

In short, the response they received was that the tree and forest conservation rules on the books at the time, and are still the rules of the day at the Niagara regional government level, would do nothing to stop or to penalize the tree cutting that took place at these sites. Continue reading →

A Brief Message from Doug Draper 

Posted July 15^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large 

Our sweet white guy Dylan

I would like to offer a few lines of heartfelt thanks to all of the people out there who shared words of condolence after I posted a story about the passing this July 8^th of Dylan, a much-beloved feline member of my family for the past 20 years. 

The response to the story was overwhelming, including emails and phone calls my wife, daughter and I received from friends across the Niagara region and GTA, and as far away as Massachusetts and New Jersey, where the story was shared on social media. 

What I found most heartening in so many of the notes I received is that I may have succeeded in writing a brief story about Dylan’s life and death that came across as something more than just some person crying over the loss of his cat.   Continue reading →

Wednesday, July 17^th at 7 P.M. at the Victoria Avenue Public Library in Niagara Falls

From Karen Fraser, CEO, Niagara Falls Riding, Green Party of Canada

Posted July 15^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

On Wednesday July 17th at 7 PM, the Green Party of Canada, Provincial and Federal Niagara Falls Riding Associations will be hosting both federal and provincial Annual General Meetings (AGM) as well as the Nomination Meeting for our 2019 Federal Green Candidate.

* The meeting will be held at the Victoria Ave. Public Library  LaMarsh Room, 4848 Victoria Ave, Niagara Falls, Ontario L2E 4C5. Continue reading →