Niagara At Large

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” – the late French poet, journalist and novelist Anatole France

A Brief One for the Animals by Doug Draper

Posted January 3^rd, 2020 on Niagara At Large

One of the first road signs that greets you wen you cross the border from upstate New York State to Massachusetts

If you drive due east from Niagara, Ontario and Buffalo, across the whole 300-some-odd- mile distance of the New York State Thruway, the first town you enter when you cross the border from New York to Massachusetts is West Stockbridge.

Nestled in the picture-perfect Berkshire Hills, this quaint little New England town hosts a population of about 1,600 people and up to March of 2017, one remarkable feline named Felix, known affectionately by town folk as “everyone’s pet cat.”

My wife Mary and I met Felix, or rather he met us, one sunny afternoon in June of 2016 after we stopped to take a short walk through the town before continuing our drive back  home to Niagara after visiting friends on Cape Cod.

Felix, walking the sidewalks of his home town of West Stockbridge, Massachusetts in 2016, file photo, Doug Draper

We had just left a nice old bookstore and were about to cross a bridge spanning a river flowing through the town when we looked down and there, walking just a few feet in front of us and looking back from time to time, as if to see if we were still coming, was this yellow-haired cat with long, lanky legs and not much more than a stub for a tail

This photo of Felix, looking down the main street of his town of West Stockbridge was posted on social media. He was one remarkable cat.

He kept walking a few paces in front of us as if he was the town’s ambassador, proudly taking us on a tour, and if we stopped for a moment to look in a shop window, he would wait patiently until the three of us would walk on together again. That was the way it was until we arrived at a store on the main street to get some of those great sandwiches we heard they make there for our trip home.

Inside the store, I asked about the cat, and someone said with a big smile; “Oh, you just met our town cat Felix. He loves to show people around.” Continue reading →

Payrolls for chief corporate officers are so massive they account for at least 40% of some companies’ losses

A Special Report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Posted January 2nd, 2020 on Niagara At Large

Ottawa, Ontario — Canada’s 100 highest paid CEOs made 227 times more than the average worker made in 2018, surpassing all previous records, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). That’s up from 197 times average worker pay in 2017.

“Put another way, by 10:09 a.m. on January 2, the average top CEOs will have made as much money as the average Canadian worker will make all year. That’s the earliest time on record in the 13 years we’ve been tracking these numbers,” said report author and CCPA Senior Economist David Macdonald.  Continue reading →

In this New Year 0f 2020 and this New Decade, Let’s All Resolve to be ‘Doves with Claws’

A New Year Message from Doug Draper

Posted January 1^st, 2020 on Niagara At Large

Looking back at the decade that has just past, I think it is fair to say that it was a mixed bag of good people doing, or at least trying to do good things, and of bullies and creeps working around the clock to force feed the rest of us on whatever they had stewing in their cauldrons of poison.

There have been all too many bullies and creeps – what I have sometimes likened to the flying monkeys in the haunted forests of Oz Land – working their black magic on the international and national stage, and yes, even right here in our Niagara region.

There is one of those flying monkeys now, taking away poor Toto

Thanks to just enough Niagara residents going to the polls in the October 2018 municipal elections, and thanks to the emergency of a new region-wide citizens watchdog group called A Better Niagara that helped galvanize fellow citizens to vote), a critical mass of bullies and creeps were swept from elected office at the local and regional levels of municipal government.

Yet not all of the bullies and creeps are gone, and courtesy of a system of crass partisan appointments that is begging for reform, some of these bullies and creeps have already popped up in other positions, on boards and commissions and so on, so we have to remain vigilant. Continue reading →

(Here’s a Plan. When You’ve Sunk to Subterranean Depths in Public Approval, Just Continue Doing More of the Same.)

A New Year’s Day Message from Ontario’s Premier, Doug Ford

Posted January 1s, 2020 on Niagara At Large

Ontario’s “For the People” Premier Doug Ford promises to continue building on what he has been doing for us (or to us) already.

Today (this January 1st, 2020), Ontario Premier Doug Ford issued the following statement marking New Year’s Day:

“A new year offers us a fresh opportunity to build on our previous successes, set new goals, and embrace a bright and hopeful future for ourselves and our loved ones. We look ahead with hope to the months and days ahead where we can make new memories and focus on the things that matter.

As we head into 2020, our government will continue to work for the people of Ontario by delivering on our Plan to Build Ontario Together. We are committed to  making life more affordable, preparing people for jobs, creating a more competitive business environment, connecting people to places, building healthier and safer communities, and making government smarter.

 From my family to yours, I want to wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!”

The Ford government’s cratering public approval ratings across Ontario, as depicted this past year (201) by non-other than the politically conservative Toronto Sun

NIAGARA AT LARGE encourages you to join the conversation by sharing your views on this post in the space following the Bernie Sanders quote below.

A Reminder that we only post comments by individuals who also share their first and last names.

For More News And Commentary From Niagara At Large – An independent, alternative voice for our greater bi-national Niagara Region – become a regular visitor and subscriber to NAL at www.niagaraatlarge.com .

“A Politician Thinks Of The Next Election. A Leader Thinks Of The Next Generation.” – Bernie Sanders

 Cindy Forster Was A Leader in Fighting to Get to the Bottom of What Cabal Members were up to at the old NPCA

Now retired Niagara Centre MPP Cindy Forster

“It’s unfortunate that you overlook my responsibility as an elected Member of Provincial Parliament to ensure the voices in my community are heard.”            – from a January 2017 open letter from then Niagara Centre MPP Cindy Forster to then-Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority board of directors chair Sandy Annunziata, responding to a statement he issued that, in part, criticized Forster  for raising the concerns of her constituents about  the NPCA board of the day  going soft on conservation and environmental protection

A Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher           Doug Draper

Posted December 31st, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Earlier this passing December, following the release of the explosive report by Ontario’s Ombudsman Paul Dube, detailing all of the nefarious conduct around what Dube called the “inside job” that won Carmen D’Angelo Niagara Region’s chief administrative job in October, 2016, I wrote and posted a commentary of thanks to the only eight regional councillors who demonstrated the care and courage to vote against D’Angelo’s hiring.

The screen in Niagara Region’s council chambers, showing the only eight councillors who voted “No” to hiring Carmen D’Angelo to the Region’s CAO post in October 2016

That commentary received thousands of hits (more than I will ever know because it was cast out over other peoples’ Facebook pages) and that was heartening to me given that tracking records on the dashboard of this NAL site confirm what I have often heard from fellow journalists – that negative news and commentary about politicians usually gets more traffic than news and commentary of a more positive nature.

My December 14th commentary about the eight regional councillors who cast that brave vote against hiring D’Angelo (and just four the record, those councillors were Pelham’s Dave Augustyn, Thorold’s Henry D’Angela and Ted Luciani, St. Catharines Kelly Edgar,  Brian Heit and Debbie MacGregor, Welland’s George Marshall and Lincoln’s Bill Hodgson) also received quite a bit of positive feedback from readers, including one I wish to give a little special attention to here.

Cindy Forster with Jeff Burch who she supported to fill her seat for the Ontario NDP, as he has, in the Niagara Centre riding

That reader was Cindy Forster who wrote of the December 14th commentary – “Thanks Doug. Always good to refresh the memories of the voting public. Unfortunately we lost a few good regional councillors who voted no (but were later) caught up in the election sweep (in the fall of 2018) to clean house!”

After Cindy Forster posted her comment on NAL’s Facebook page (which, by the way, I don’t go to that often because, truth be known, I have a lot of problems with culture of Facebook), it occurred to me that it would be a good idea to refresh peoples’ memories about the principled leadership and courage she demonstrated in all of this too, before she retired as Niagara Centre’s NDP MPP in the spring of 2018. Continue reading →

“The reality is a thermometer is not conservative or liberal and it’s certainly not NDP or Green either. It doesn’t give us a different answer depending on how we vote. The climate system is changing. Humans are responsible. The impacts are increasingly serious and even dangerous, no matter who we vote for or where we fall in the political spectrum.”                                  – Scientist Katherine Hayhoe, Director of the Climate Science Centre at Texas Tech University

A Brief Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper followed by links to must-hear CBC Radio interview with climate scientist Katherine Hayhoe

Posted December 30^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

As we begin the third decade of the 21^st Century, we are facing what thousands of scientists around the world are now calling a “climate emergency” that may determine whether, decades from now, there will even be people left to record who among us showed the wisdom and courage to address this existential threat to life on our planet, and who did not.

Now is the time for us to decide which side of history we want to be on and how future generations will remember us.

Will we want to be remembered as someone who cared enough to stand up for the future or as someone who chose to do  little or nothing?

Do we want to be remembered among those who continued to claim that climate change is a hoax or that it has little or nothing to do with anything we humans do – even when the weight of scientific evidence that the climate crisis we are already experiencing is largely human induced, and when we are already experiencing a higher frequency of damage and destruction related to violent swings in weather.

Severe climate-related disasters, like the one shown happening to Lake Erie shoreline residents in the CBC report (broadcast this past November 2019) below, are becoming ever more frequent, whether we are talking about destructive floods, winds, fires, droughts and food crop failures, crashes in plant, animal and fish populations, and on and on. To watch the CBC report, click on the arrow in the middle of the screen –

When we look at the costly damage climate change is already doing, and at the very real possibility of the larger-scale destruction that lies ahead, we can no longer afford the lack of serious leadership we are seeing in politicians and consider the lack of serious leadership like Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford, and in too many others now serving at the federal, provincial and municipal level in Canada, and in other countries around the world. Continue reading →

The Days of Aging Boomers like Donald Trump and Doug Ford Ravaging the World are Rapidly Fading

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

Posted December 28^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

As Bob Dylan once sang to a then youthful generation of Baby Boomers that since has gone so sour – “The times they are a changin’.”

As the song goes  in a message to the Boomer’s parents – “Your old road is rapidly aging. Please get outta’ the new one if you can’t lend a hand.”

Today these ‘get-out-of-the-way’ lyrics are  suited, not to their parents, but to the same generation of aging Boomers – to the likes of Doug Ford and Donald Trump, and to all of the mostly white members of the Boomer population who support them.

An aging white Republican congressman holds up a smowball on the floor of Congress during an unusually cold day in Washington, D.C. to make a joke about climate change

They are aimed squarely in the direction of that aging Boomer and to all who laugh with him  as he stands there making joke about “global warming” while holding a snowball during a freak late-spring snowfall,  even in the face of a climate emergency that threatens  to wipe out life as we know it on this planet if we don’t act to turn it around now. 

There is real cause for hope though.

Fortunately, Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old climate activist from Sweden, who was chosen Time Magazine’s 2019 ‘Person of the Year’, and countless millions of her young supporters around the world are stepping up to do what older generations are failing or refusing to do.

There is the hope for the future.

And here is a screen you can click on to view a few highlights from 2019 and Greta Thunberg’s ongoing campaign for her generation’s future – 

NIAGARA AT LARGE encourages you to join the conversation by sharing your views on this post in the space following the Bernie Sanders quote below.

A Reminder that we only post comments by individuals who also share their first and last names.

For More News And Commentary From Niagara At Large – An independent, alternative voice for our greater bi-national Niagara Region – become a regular visitor and subscriber to NAL at www.niagaraatlarge.com .

“A Politician Thinks Of The Next Election. A Leader Thinks Of The Next Generation.” – Bernie Sanders

Parents and children are looking at larger classes, fewer course offerings for older students, and mandatory online learning.

More than 200 students join at Holy Cross Secondary School join in an April 4th, 2019 province-wide walkout to protest cuts the Ford government is making to their education.

A Message from Ricardo Tranjan, Senior Researcher, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (Ontario)

Posted December 27^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Over the past year, the Ontario government has announced a number of budget changes affecting schools and school boards across the province.

Parents are increasingly concerned about how the resulting cuts — both current and future — will harm their children’s education. This is understandable. Parents and children are looking at larger classes, fewer course offerings for older students, and mandatory online learning. The end result, according to the Financial Accountability Office, will be the elimination of 10,000 teaching positions across the province by 2023-24.

Teachers in St. Catharines, engaged in one of some of the one-day walk-outs teachers across Ontario participated in this fall, as Ford cuts to schools loom. Photos by Doug Draper

These changes have been met with significant and sustained opposition, and for good reason: parents and educators want accessible, high-quality public education that meets the needs of all students. Continue reading →

In its 14 years, the event has raised more than $9.5 million, which all stays in Niagara.

News from Niagara Health (formerly known as the Niagara Health System)

Posted December 27th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – On May 25, 2019, more than 14,000 people participated in the 14th Annual Rankin Cancer Run, raising more than $1 million for cancer care in Niagara. This inspiring community event fundraises for our local cancer support organizations, including the Walker Family Cancer Centre.

From let to right, Janice Giesbrecht (Chief of Oncology at Niagara Health, Louise Rivett (Rankin Cancer Run Volunteer Committee Member), Roger Ali (Niagara Health Foundation President & CEO) and Chris Green (Niagara Health Foundation).

In its 14 years, the event has raised more than $9.5 million, which all stays in Niagara. This year Rankin Cancer Run has donated $650,000 to Niagara Health Foundation bringing the event’s total contributions to over $6 million. Continue reading →

We’ll be back in a few days –  following the all-to- usual Boxing Day madness – with more News and Commentary for anyone who cares

A Holiday Season Message from Doug Draper

Posted December 24^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

One of my favourite off-beat X-Mass trees,made out of lobster traps, and displayed each year near the wharf in Provincetown, Massachusetts in Cape Cod. The Pilgrim’s Monument towers in the background here to mark the 1620 landing of the Mayflower.

I will be taking a few days off now to spend time with members of my families and friends, and to remember all those beloved ones, including some of my family’s furry feline friends, who are no longer here.

I hope you have time to do the same and are trying to do your best to stay free of so much of the stress and depression that can overcome people at this time of the year.

If you have a job where you have to work on key days of the Holiday season, I wish you the very best to and for some downtime that you can spend with members of your family and friends. Continue reading →

Niagara’s Pamela Minns, a long-time heritage activist, is a model of good citizenship

Pamela Minns is Celebrated this December for her many years of Leadership in efforts to Preserve Niagara’s Heritage and for the Role she has played in the Revitalization of Thorold’s Award-Winning Downtown

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

Posted December 23^rd, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Read a paper or turn on the radio or television to the news these days, and it is so often filled with reports about nefarious individuals doing nefarious things in our country, our province, our region, and in the world beyond.

Thorold Mayor Terry Ugulini with a plaque expressing appreciation from the city, was one of many who gathered this December to celebrate Pamela Minns’ decades of work to protect and preserve Niagara’s heritage. hoto by Doug Draper

As the late American playwright and author of books Lillian Hellman once put it of Cold War era blacklisting of almost anyone who criticized the government in her country during the 1950s; “We are living in scoundrel times.”

So much so these days, that it can often get depressing reading or turning on the news, and so much so that I’ve heard many people say they’re feeling on the verge of turning off completely.

When I am feeling that way, one of the things I do to keep from turning off (because that’s what the scoundrels dearly want) is to turn my attention to at least some of the many good people out there, working every day and often without any great monetary rewards, to make life better in our communities.

And for me and for so many others who know her, one of those people  is Pamela Minns, a Thorold resident and long-time community activist who has devoted her passion and intelligence to protecting, preserving and revitalizing what is left of our rich architectural and cultural heritage in this Niagara region and beyond. Continue reading →

Ford Tories Ongoing War Against Green, Renewable Sources of Energy is Costing Ontario’s Taxpayers Hundreds of Millions, if not Billions of Dollars

We know which side Ontario’s Ford government supports. What side do you support?

Ford & Company Prove Once Again that they Care More About Pandering to Climate Deniers in their Base than Doing What’s Right for Future Generations

News from Ontario’s Official Opposition New Democratic Party, with a Foreword by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper

Posted December 23rd, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Foreword by Doug Draper – 

Ontario’s Environment Minister Jeff Yurek, arguably already the worst environment minister the province has ever had (on the right, with his puppetmaster, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who says he “proud” of killing wind energy projects

Since I began my journalism career covering environmental issues at the St. Catharines Standard 40 years ago, no Ontario government, with the possible exception of that run by Mike Harris and his Tories in the late 1990s and early 2000s, has shown more ignorance of science and more contempt for policies and programs necessary to protect our environment than that of Doug Ford and his so-called Progressive Conservatives.

Whether it has been the need for managing potentially destructive floods and protecting and planting trees or the need to save what is left of endangered species, our provincially significant wetlands or place a price on climate-raving carbon pollution, this Ford government is second to none in Ontario and possibly the country in de-funding and dismantling green programs that have often been decades in the making. Continue reading →

One of our all-time favourite people, Ed Lanigan

Ed Lanigan, of Upstate New York

A Few Words of Remembrance from Doug Draper, and from Mary and Sarah Draper too

Posted December 20^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Some three hundred kilometres (or roughly 175 miles) due east of Niagara, Ontario and Buffalo, in the rolling hills of Oneida County in Upstate New York, is a community called Rome that was, according to at least some historical accounts, founded along an ancient Native American portage path.

Located off the New York State Thruway, between the cities of Syracuse and Utica, Rome is home to Fort Stanwix that goes back to the French and Indian Wars in the 1760s, and to the site of the groundbreaking on July 4^th, 1817 for the Erie Canal that ran between Buffalo and the Hudson River and opened the Great Lakes and mid-western regions of the continent to the Atlantic Coast, and ultimately setting the stage for the northeastern United States to become an industrial and economic powerhouse.

Ed, at right, with one of his grandchildren Jenna and my wife Mary at the Old Sea Pines in 2009, during one of our annual Thanksgiving gatherings

For my wife Mary, daughter Sarah and I Rome, New York is also home to a number of very good friends of ours, who we first met close to 30 years ago at annual Thanksgiving gatherings at a classic Cape Cod inn called Old Sea Pines, whose owners and innkeepers also hale from the Rome area.

One of those very good friends, Ed Lanigan, slipped away this past December 15 at age 83 and we will miss him dearly. Continue reading →

A Partnership In The Making: Trout Unlimited Canada And The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority Sign Memorandum of Understanding

Some of the headwaters of Twelve Mile Creek, running through the Fonthill Kame, northward toward Lake Ontario, are vital habitat for freshwater trout. File photo by Doug Draper

“This partnership will improve aquatic habitat, protect properties from floods and erosion and help“ mitigate the effects of climate change.”                          – NPCA CAO/Secretary-Treasurer, Gayle Wood

News from the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority

Posted December 20^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

The Niagara Chapter of Trout Unlimited Canada (TUC) and Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) signed a historical Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) yesterday at the Regional headquarters. The MOA solidifies a partnership that has been in the works over the past year, as the NPCA revitalized their restoration program and TUC Niagara launched their Healthy Twelve Mile Creek pilot project.  Continue reading →

 News from Niagara Health

Posted December 20^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

 St. Catharines, Ontario – This December 18^th  at Niagara Health’s St. Catharines site, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Christine Elliott announced a government investment of $175 million to help hospitals across Ontario maintain infrastructure to ensure safe and comfortable environments for patients, their families, medical professionals and administrators.

This afternoon MPP Sam Oosterhoff of the Niagara West riding was proud to announce that Niagara’s Hotel Dieu Shaver Health and Rehabilitation Centre will receive over $1.15 million of that funding envelope – $1,154,712 to be exact. Continue reading →

Wood Has Played a Herculean Role in Restoring NPCA as a Body that puts Conservation First

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

Posted December 18^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Gayle Wood, the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s outgoing interim CAO, returned to the NPCA, where she began her career in conservation years ago, when it desperatley needed someone like her to get the body back on track

I’m sure most of us can point to organizations that are in such a bad state of disarray, we wonder who on earth would want the job of cleaning them up.

Yet when it is an organization as important as the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NCPA) – one that citizens from across this Niagara region and from eastern parts of Hamilton and Haldimand County count on to look after our precious conservations lands and the health of our watersheds – we certainly hope that someone is willing to take on the job and try.

Over the past 10 months, after literally years of the NPCA  being mismanaged and , in this journalist’s view, being largely hijacked by a number of  now-mercifully-out-of-our-hair miscreants who seemed to have just about anything other than conservation or protecting our environment on their minds,  someone was.

Her name is Gayle Wood, a resident of Niagara-on-the-Lake and a seasoned conservationist with a solid resume in her field and a gold-plated reputation for building and bringing out the best in other Conservation Authorities in the province. Continue reading →

“High water level conditions caused tremendous challenges, still ongoing in certain areas, for people living and working along the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River shoreline, including damage to  homes and property.”

 Mike Shantz And Melissa Kropfreiter, Canada-U.S. International Joint Commission

Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Adaptive Management (GLAM) Committee

Posted  December 17^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Wet conditions throughout the Great Lakes- St. Lawrence River basin in the spring of 2019 resulted in record or near-record high water levels this past summer on all of the Great Lakes.

High water levels and shoreline flooding on Lake Ontario on June 1, 2019. Credit: Environment and Climate Change Canada.

These high water level conditions caused tremendous challenges, still ongoing in certain areas, for people living and working along the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River shoreline, including damage to homes and property.

The IJC’s Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Adaptive Management (GLAM) Committee seeks to document and better understand the impacts associated with these high water levels. Continue reading →

“These donations, made by the community, will make such a difference for kids in the city over the holidays, no child should go without a gift.”                                                                                             – City of St. Catharines’ Community and Events Supervisor Brianne Wilson

 News from the City of St. Catharines in Niagara, Ontario

Posted December 17^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

With any luck there won’t be a stocking left unstuffed for children across the city after the community once again stepped up in support of the Tree of Little Angels.

The 22nd annual run of the campaign wrapped up on Friday (December 13^th)  with Community Care of St. Catharines and Thorold stopping by the St. Catharines Kiwanis Aquatics Centre on Monday to pick up the hundreds of donated toys generated by the effort. Continue reading →

“Imagine if when I had asked (Canada’s Prime Minister Justin)Trudeau to go to COP25 (the international climate conference that just ended in Spain), to bring a clear statement based in science, he had needed Green votes to hang on to government.”                                                                                              – Elizabeth May, Green Party of Canada

Elizabeth May, Green Party of Canada

A Note from Elizabeth May, the Green Party of Canada’s Parliamentary Leader

Posted December 16^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

I just wanted to send a quick note recounting my recent experience as part of the COP25 international climate conference in Madrid (Spain).

Those of you who know me, know that I am committed to honesty so I won’t sugarcoat this for you.

COP25 was a brutal experience. The last several days of it I hardly slept at all, but neither did anyone trying hard to get to agreement.

We are blocked at this meeting by the negotiators representing Donald Trump’s America, Bolsonaro’s Brazil and Morrison’s Australia. Canada is no longer the worst, but we still won a few Fossils of the Day. Continue reading →

Another Shot by the Ford Government in its Ongoing War on Environmental Protection and on Building a Greener, Cleaner Province of Ontario

“This will result in more cars on the road and more gridlock, along with fewer opportunities for urban renewal and growth. Cancelling the LRT will leave Hamilton with more carbon pollution and other toxic air pollution proven to make people sick.” – from a statement by Environmental Defence, a leading public advocacy group in Canada

A Statement by Sarah Buchanan, Clean Economy Program Manager, Environmental Defence, on the cancellation of the Hamilton LRT

Posted December 16^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

A green way of getting around in the Hamilton area sees its funding scrapped by Ford’s Tories who have shown their preference  over and over again for carbon polluting trucks and cars.

Toronto, Ontario  – Today (this December 16th), Hamilton residents learned that instead of getting desperately needed clean, comfortable rapid public transit, their long awaited LRT project’s funding was pulled by the Provincial government.  

This will result in more cars on the road and more gridlock, along with fewer opportunities for urban renewal and growth. Cancelling the LRT will leave Hamilton with more carbon pollution and other toxic air pollution proven to make people sick. Continue reading →

All Proceeds from Tigger’s Calendar – Available Now and While Quantities Last at Pet Valu in Thorold – Go to Animal Assistance Programs in Niagara

A Call-Out to All Animal Lovers form Niagara At Large

Posted December 16, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Tigger’s new calendar for 2020 is available now. Photo by Tigger’s friend and Pet Valu colleague

He is a feline celebrity in Niagara, and he may have more recognition than most of the region’s elected representatives in municipal, provincial and federal office.

You walk in the doors of Pet Valu – a retail store for pet food and other pet accessories at the Pine Plaza at 9 Pine Street North in Thorold – and who are almost certain to find at least a few shoppers there who are also there to say Hi to Tigger, a big orange and beige tabby who, along with his feline sidekick Gus,  is looking like he’s in charge of the place.

Tigger’s fan base has grown so much that at least two or three years ago his human colleagues at the store began producing a calendar featuring  beautifully shot photos placing him at the centre of scenery capturing the spirit of all 12 months of the year. Continue reading →

On Monday, October 31^st, 2016 – A Day That Will Live In Infamy in the Annals of Regional Government in Niagara – Only Eight Regional Councillors Showed the Care and the Courage to Stand Up for What Was Right

On That Day, At That Time in the Region’s History, They Were the Only Real Heroes on That Council

So Thank You to Pelham’s Dave Augustyn, Thorold’s Henry D’Angela and Ted Luciani, St. Catharines Kelly Edgar,  Brian Heit and Debbie MacGregor, Welland’s George Marshall and Lincoln’s Bill Hodgson

A Niagara regional council meeting in session, with then-regional chair Al Caslin at the helm. File photo by Doug Draper

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

Posted December 13^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

The 71 page Ontario Ombudsman’s report, titled “Inside Job,” that continues to rock Niagara Region

In my 40 years as a news journalist in Niagara, few reports I know of have received as volcanic a response  from residents across the region than the one released by Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dube this past November 29^th; titled “Inside Job.”

Anger, outrage, betrayal and a loss of trust in Niagara Region as an institution were among the many responses I heard and had forwarded to me on Facebook and email to a report that described in detail an ongoing  series of behind-the-scenes manoeuvres made by a cabal of now departed senior staffers and members of a regional council then chaired by Al Caslin.

They were  manoeuvres that, according to the Ombudsman, compromised institutional processes at the Region in ways that were “unfair,” “wrong,” and “unjust” – to get Carmen D’Angelo, then CAO of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA), hired to the CAO job at the Region in October 2016, then keep D’Angelo there for another three years past his first three-year contract. Continue reading →

“Regional Council was faced with some challenging decisions on the 2020 budget.” – Niagara Region’s Chair, Jim Bradley

News from Niagara’s Regional Government

Posted December 13th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Niagara Regional Council Approves 2020 Budget

Niagara Regional Council has approved a budget for 2020 that balances the need to maintain core services, deliver critical infrastructure and protect the community.

Niagara Region’s current council in session. File photo by Doug Draper

Challenged with costs downloaded from the province, required capital investments, as well as facing a need to support growth in population and employment, the budget plan is sustainable, transparent and service-focused.

Three components make up Niagara Region’s budget: the levy operating budget, the rate operating budgets and the capital budget. Continue reading →

News from the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority

Posted December 13^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

A Brief Foreword from Doug Draper at NAL –

The following news was circulated to the news media and posted on Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s website shortly after 9 a.m. this Friday, December 13^th, 2019.

NPCA’s current board, with interim CAO Gayle Wood, a veteran conservation administrator, seated to the left of board Chair Dave Bylsma at back. In her short time there, Wood has done a great deal to get the embattled Conservation Authority back on track to focusing on a conservation mission and restoring public trust. File photo by Doug Draper

The appointed of a new Chief Administrative Officer (CAO)) to a publicly funded body that is responsible for important conservation and environmental protection work in Niagara area watersheds and is still recovering from the turmoil and ill management of the past six or seven years is an important development in and of itself.

Given that, Niagara At Large will certainly have more to say about this appointment and the efforts of NPCA’s new CAO and her management team, and the body’s current board of directors’ efforts to get the NPCA back on a conservation track in the days, weeks and months ahead.

For now, here is the NPCA’s news release –  

NPCA Welcomes Ms. Chandra Sharma As New CAO

Chandra Sharma is NPCA’s new CAO, effective January 1st

The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) is pleased to welcome Ms. Chandra Sharma to the position of Chief Administrative Office/Secretary-Treasurer. After an extensive search, the Board of Directors selected Ms. Sharma for the position, and she will commence on January 1, 2020. 

“Our new CAO brings to the role more than 20 years of progressive leadership experience in strategy, governance, operations, and program development,” says NPCA Board Chair, Dave Bylsma. “We are excited to have her join the amazing team we already have in place and continuing to move the NPCA forward.” Continue reading →

Chris Bittle’s Appointment to the Position Comes at a Time when transportation improvements in Niagara are long overdue.

Just Please Don’t Resurrect the Two-Decade-Old Idea of a ‘Mid-Peninsula Highway’

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

Posted December 12th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

St. Catharines MP Chris Bittle receives key federal transport appointment

St. Catharines’ Liberal MP Chris Bittle, elected to a second term in this past October’s federal election, is one of several MPs Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named this December 12th to his government’s new team of parliamentary secretaries.

According to a news release from the Prime Minister’s office, Bittle has been appointed Parliamentary Secretary to federal Transportation Minister Mark Garneau.

“Our team of parliamentary secretaries will be an important link between ministers and Parliament, working closely with their colleagues to deliver real, positive results for all Canadians,” states the Prime Minister in the release.

“They will help advance government legislation, engage directly with Canadians on key government initiatives, and represent the government in Canada and internationally.”

Bittle’s appointment is obviously good new for him and will hopefully benefit residents in Niagara as well on issues of transportation, including marine, rail, highway and public transit services that are highly important to the region. Continue reading →

Younger, More Progressive-Minded Canadians – Especially – Know this Party doesn’t care about Climate Change and Many other Issues of Concern to Them

A News Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted December 12^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Andrew Scheer, laying the good ol’ cowboy out west in Alberta where he also plays up his support for the tar sands.

If you are a regular follower of the news, you probably already know that Andrew Scheer made the announcement this December 12th to resign his leadership of Canada’s Conservative Party to spend more time with his family.

That’s right. We can now count Andrew Scheer among the  latest to fight tooth and nail to keep his leadership right up to the moment he threw himself on an ever growing pile of political carcasses to spend more time with his family.

Isn’t it way past time these people came up with something better than saying they want to spend more time with their family? How about something like; “I’ve decided to resign so I can spend more time learning how to play the piano.”

At least that would be a little refreshing and it might even have some of us feeling a bit puzzled. There is nothing puzzling any more about a politician saying they are quitting to spend more time with their family. Continue reading →

“The provincial government used to fund 50 % of the operating costs of transit. Then the Harris Conservatives scrapped that contribution, and the Liberals refused to reinstate it.”                      – Ontario NDP Transit Critic Jessica Bell

News from Ontario’s NDP/Official Opposition Party

Posted December 12th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

QUEEN’S PARK – Jessica Bell, Ontario NDP Transit critic, called on the provincial government to match municipal funding for public transit operations and maintenance at a press conference this morning.

Bell’s private member’s motion, Better Transit Now, would commit the government to doing just that. The motion will be debated and up for a vote in the legislature on Thursday (December 12th) afternoon. Continue reading →

News from Community Voices of Fort Erie, a citizens group dedicated to protecting and preserving the Waverly shoreline area

Posted December 1oth, 2019 on Niagara At Large

A Brief Foreword from NAL’s Doug Draper –

Join the citizens effort to protect and preserve the Waverly Beach area from wrongly placed urban development.

This nice book has been published just in time for the Holiday Season and also comes at a time when the Fort Erie-based citizens group, Voices of Fort Erie, continues its effort to protect a Waverly Beach and Woods area that is full of history and natural beauty from urban development that can and should go somewhere else.

Consider buying a copy of this book and do what you can to support the efforts of this group of citizens and others across Niagara to save what is left of our region’s  most precious green places from the word kind of urban sprawl.

We can grow and prosper in smart ways that don’t destroy forever what we have left of our region’s natural heritage.

Now here is the news about this new book from Community Voices of Fort Erie –

The “Bumpity Bump”, the old Waverly Hotel, and the “Brickplace” – these are a few of the memories shared by local residents in a new book entitled, MOMENTS IN TIME: STORIES OF WAVERLY AND ERIE BEACH. Continue reading →

“As part of our Corporate Values, we have worked with and paid a living wage to Artisans in Developing Countries for seven years so becoming a Certified Living Wage Employer at home is in many ways a dream come true for our company.”                              – Terri-Lynn Woodhouse, Co-Owner of One Earth

News from the Niagara Poverty Reduction Network

Posted December 10^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – The Niagara Poverty Reduction Network is pleased to announce that One Earth has become a certified living wage employer at the Champion level.

Niagara Poverty Reduction Network director Glen Walker (left) and Niagara-on-the-Lake Lord Mayor Betty Disero with representatives of One Earth, another in a growing number of businesses in the region paying their employess a living wage.

 Niagara-on-the-Lake-based One Earth designs and sells an inspired collection of beauty and wellness products, clothing, jewellery, and homewares made by Artisans around the world. For over seven years they have fostered the power of people helping people and have shown that creating a more flourishing world is possible. They currently employ two full time and two part time staff. Continue reading →

“Residents of supportive living homes are some of the most vulnerable people in our province, and deserve to be protected. …(and yet)  the sector remains unregulated with no minimum standards of care.”                                                                                     – – Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch

News from the Niagara Centre Constituency Office of NDP MPP Jeff Burch

Posted December 10^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch

QUEEN’S PARK – NDP MPP Jeff Burch (Niagara Centre) has announced a new private member’s bill to regulate supportive living homes.

The Protecting Vulnerable Persons in Supportive Living Accommodation Bill provides a framework for operators and sets minimum standards that must be met so that tenants are no longer at risk.

“Residents of supportive living homes are some of the most vulnerable people in our province, and deserve to be protected.

“The sector remains unregulated with no minimum standards of care. We’ve heard too many shocking stories of high-risk adults and seniors being mistreated, neglected and left to live in deplorable conditions,” said Burch on Tuesday during a press conference at the Ontario legislature. Continue reading →

“I am sitting here in this chair because during (October, 2018 municipal) election, people were asking me why do you want to run for the position. … I said it was about restoring honesty, integrity and bringing good faith back to government in the Region of Niagara.”                                                                                   – Niagara-on-the-Lake Regional Councillor Gary Zalepo before the Region’s council voted, this December 5^th, to call on police to investigate the circumstances around the 2016 hiring of the Region’s former CAO Carmen D’Angelo

At this special meeting of Niagara Regional Council, councillors voted to call for police investigation into circumstances around CAO hiring affair. Photo by Doug Draper

 A News Commentary by Doug Draper, reporter and publisher of Niagara At Large

Posted December 6^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

A year ago this December 6th, Al Caslin, standing at back and at left, performs his final act as Niagara’s regional chair and hands the chain of office over to Niagara Region’s new Chair, Jim Bradley, and the culture in the regional council chambers turned from black to white, just like that. File photo by Doug Draper

Niagara, Ontario – It was a year ago on this day – December 6^th, 2018 – that Niagara’s new regional council was sworn in, and Jim Bradley, the former veteran MPP for St. Catharines, was elected by a majority on that newly sworn-in council to serve as Niagara Region’s new Chair.

It was an inauguration day like no other in Niagara Region’s 50-year history, if for nothing more than the sheer number of new faces taking the oath of office.

Only nine of the 32 of the individuals sworn in that day had served on regional council during the last term, and with the exception of Niagara Falls’ Barbara Greenwood, who had sat on the council a few terms ago, 22 had never served on council at the regional level before.

It made for an unprecedented number of newcomers at the regional level following October 2018 municipal election that saw an equally unprecedented drive by citizens across Niagara for sweeping change on the Region’s council after four years of a council, dominated by then regional chair Al Caslin and what came to be known as a “cabal” of a dozen or more councillors, that felt like a trip through Dante’s inferno for many people. Continue reading →

Council’s Move Follows Release of Ontario Ombudsman’s Report calling process around hiring of former CAO Carmen D’Angelo “compromised,” “unjust,” and “wrong.”

​“We value the thoughtful advice of the Ombudsman and we are confident that the implementation of his recommendations will serve to ensure that these activities should not occur again.”          – Niagara Regional Chair Jim Bradley

A News Brief by Doug Draper with Updates to Come

Posted December 5th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

At a special meeting of Niagara’s Regional Council, councillors vote unanimously this December 5th to refer the findings in an Ontario Ombudsman’s report on the circumstances around the hiring of the Region’s former CAO Carmen D’Angelo to police for investigation.

Niagara’s Regional Council votes to bring police in to investigate circumstances around hiring of the Region’s former CAO Carmen D’Angelo

Councillors’ support for a police investigation came after a  lengthy closed door session with legal counsel and was followed by a spontaneous round of applause and calls of “thank you” from citizens filling the gallery in the council chambers.

The passage of that motion to pass the investigation request on to the Niagara Regional Police Service which, in the case of matters involving possible wronging at the municipal government level, will likely to referred it onward to the Ontario Provincial Police, was followed by the passage of another motion to turn contracts the Region signed with certain former senior administrators over to the Region’s external legal counsel “to investigate all options of legal recourse.” Continue reading →

Never Mind Saying that the Key Players in Niagara  Region’s CAO Hiring Scandal Have Suffered and Been Embarrassed Enough

Regional Councillors Should Remember the Real Victims of this Dark, Demoralizing and Costly Affair – The People Who Pay Their Hard-Earned Money for Good Governance in this Region

A Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher           Doug Draper

Posted December 4th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

There is a growing call for a police investigation into the circumstances around the hiring of this man – Carmen D’Angelo – to Niagara Region’s top administrative job in 2016. Will Niagara’s regional council heed that call.

Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch, the municipal affairs critic for the Official Opposition Party of Ontario, did the right thing this December 4th when he wrote a letter to the province’s Police Commission, Thomas Carrique, urging him to launch an OPP investigation into the sordid circumstances around the hiring more than three years ago of Niagara Region’s now former CAO Carmen D’Angelo.

Indeed, the findings that Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dube spent more than a year investigating and detailed in a lengthy report, appropriately titled “Inside Job” and released by his office his this past November 29th,  are disturbing and disheartening enough to cause even the most positive-thinking people among us turn cynical about politicians, and about politics and government in general

I have hardly talked to a single person in the days since the Ombudsman’s report was released – people who I have met in a grocery store cash line, the parking lot of a local library … people I don’t even know – who are unaware of the findings in this report and who do not want the police called in to investigate any possibility of criminal conduct here. Continue reading →

Deadline for Public Comments on Climate Plan is December 31st, 2019

A Link for a Copy of Niagara Region’s Climate Plan Discussion Paper is Available Below

A Call-Out from Macie Jacklin and Community Voices of Fort Erie, a citizens group now fighting to keep urban development from despoiling one of Niagara, Ontario’s beloved natural heritage sites, Waverly Woods

Posted December 4th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Hello everyone,

Niagara residents, there is an opportunity for you to provide feedback on the Niagara Region’s climate change report. This report was prepared as part of the review of the Niagara Region Official Plan.

Go to – https://www.niagararegion.ca/official-plan/default.aspx

To read the Climate Change discussion paper, click on – https://www.niagararegion.ca/projects/rural-and-natural-systems/pdf/climate-change-discussion-paper.pdf

This is a great opportunity for the public to show their support for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

For the second time in three years, walls of sandbags were used to protect St. Catharines’ popular Lakeside Beach and park, and the historic carousel in it from near record-high waters in the lower Great Lakes. File photo by Doug Draper

I draw your attention to section 5.4 page 29. This may be an opportunity to increase pollution controls, create a fact based Natural Heritage System; stronger protection for endangered species and habitats such as wetlands and an enforceable Tree By-law. Continue reading →

Rather than putting together a real plan for addressing the climate emergency, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has spent millons of tax dollars on a p.r. campaign and court battle against federal government efforts to put a price on carbon pollution

“The current Ontario government isn’t just a dragging their heels when it comes to fighting climate change. They are blocking real action.”                                                        – Sarah Buchanan, program manager, Environmental Defence

A News Release from Environmental Defence, a Canada-based advocacy  group for environmental protection

Posted Decembert 4^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

A Statement from Sarah Buchanan, Clean Economy Program Manager at Environmental Defence, on the Auditor General’s Annual Report which slams Ontario’s climate change plan –

The Auditor General’s Annual Report, released (this December 4th), confirms that Ontario’s climate change plan falls apart under serious scrutiny.

There is no credible evidence to support, and little reason to believe, that the plan will reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to meet Ontario’s 2030 target, which was significantly weakened last year. A failing climate change plan is terrible news for Ontarians and also jeopardizes Canada’s ability to meets its climate targets. Continue reading →

Niagara At Large reporter Doug Draper with ome Breaking News

Posted December 4^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Niagara Centre NDP MPP Jeff Burch

Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch  – a member of Ontario’s Official Opposition/NDP Party has sent a letter to the province’s Police Commissioner, Thomas Carrique, asking the Ontario Provincial Police to follow-up on a released Ombudsman report  on the circumstances around the October 2016 hiring of Niagara Region’s now former  CAO Carmen D’Angelo.

The Ontario Ombudsman’s report, titled “Inside Job” and released this past November 28^th, concluded, following an investigation that last well over a year, that the process used to hire D’Angelo under the watch of the former regional council of Al Calsin, was “compromised,” “unjust,” and “wrong.”

In the days since the release of Ombudsman Paul Dube’s report, at  least two members of Niagara Region’s current council – Wainfleet Mayor and Regional Councillor Kevin Gibson and Fort Erie Regional Councillor Tom Insinna, both veteran  RCMP officers – have concluded that the involvement of police in a “criminal investigation” of what went on around D’Angelo’s hiring to the top administrative job at the Region is “warranted.”

Now former Niagara regonal chair Al Caslin and the Region’s former CAO Carmen D’Angelo, still running the show two years ago. Calls are growing for a police investigation into the circumstances around D’Angelo’s October 2016 hiring. file photo by Doug Draper

In his open letter to Ontario’s Police Commissioner, circulated earlier this December 4^th, Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch said, in part –

“Mr. Paul Dubé’s report (enclosed) titled Inside Job, found that the hiring of Carmen D’Angelo was orchestrated from the office of former Regional Chair Alan Caslin and involved other politicians and bureaucratic staff. …

“I am urging the OPP to review the report in detail and to open an investigation. I hope the OPP can ensure that those who engage in wrongdoing and exploit our democratic institutions for their own personal gain can and will be held accountable.” Continue reading →

“There is no time and no reason to delay. We have the tools, we have the science, we have the resources. Let us show we also have the political will that people demand from us. To do anything less will be a betrayal of our entire human family and all the generations to come.”                                                                               

U.N. Secretary-General Antonneo Guterras

– U.N. Secretary-General Antoneo Guterras, in an address to representatives of nations around the world, this December 2^nd, at the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Madrid, Spain

News from the United Nations

Posted December 3^rd, 2019 on Niagara At Large

A Brief Foreword from Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper –

The U.N. Secretary-General at a Climate Action Summit earlier this 2019 with young climate activist Greta Thunberg.

I am posting some of the key lines in this address  by the U.N. Secretary-General Antoneo Guterras because I think that these are words we all need to hear from one of the strongest voices for climate action in a position of leadership on the world stage today.

I think we especially need to hear them in Canada where we have a Prime Minister in Justin Trudeau who looks like he may be on the verge of using our tax money to throw subsidies at those filthy Alberta tar pits, in a pathetic effort to keep his minority government in power by appeasing that premier’s loud-mouth populist premier Jason Kenny.

Trudeau runs up against young climate activists at a town hall meeting in British Columbia last year, after his government invested billions of dollars on a tar sands pipeline.

It’s bad enough that Trudeau spent more than five billion of our tax dollars on a pipeline for that tar during his last term of office. Watch out for him throwing even more of our money away on a source of energy that has no future in the 21^st Century place – so much so that  financial institutions in Europe and other parts of the world no longer want to invest in it. Continue reading →

“Niagara’s Regional Council now has the power to make the Ontario Ombudsman report meaningless and a waste of time. All of us in the Niagara Region need to pay very special attention to that meeting and make sure the council doesn’t!”

A Commentary by Ed Smith

A Special to Niagara At Large, Posted December 3^rd, 2019

Niagara community activist and longtime municipal council watcher Ed Smith calls on Niagara’s Regional Council to stand up for democracy and the rule of law following release of Ontario Ombudsman’s ‘Inside Job’ report

The Ontario Ombudsman’s report ‘Inside Job’, on the corrupt hiring of Carmen D’Angelo at Niagara Region, has finally been released.

But what does it really mean?

The report outlines details and events in a fascinating degree of detail, but I can tell you that many people in Niagara already knew most of these details. 

To be sure, there were some new details in the report, but the gist of the entire sordid affair was well known and understood by countless citizens who pay attention to local politics in Niagara. 

So what does the Ombudsman report really mean? Continue reading →

Then Niagara regional chair Al Caslin, delivering one of his “there’s-something-you-can-clap-about” annual “State of the Region” addresses.

“I always acted with the best of intentions for the betterment of Niagara.”

– former Niagara regional chair Al Caslin, from a statement he shared with St. Catharines-based Heart Radio/610 CKTB Radio in a statement following the release, this November 29th, of an Ontario Ombudsman report calling the process used under his watch to hire Niagara Region’s now former CAO Carmen D’Angelo “compromised, unjust and wrong.”

A Commentary by the Niagara-based citizens watchdog group, A Better Niagara, with a Brief Foreword from Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper

Posted December 2nd, 2019 on Niagara At Large

A Foreword by Doug Draper – 

Over the past four years, from December, 2013 through to the first few days of December this past year, the then Niagara regional chair – Al Caslin – hardly ever seemed to miss an opportunity to call a member of council or a member of the public, speaking to the council as a delegation, “out of order,” and sometimes even demand an apology from them if he felt something they said was offensive to him and what member of the public took to calling his so-called cabal.

This image began making the rounds on the internet as growing numbers of Niagara residents grew concerned about what was going down with Niagara regional chair Al Caslin and his council.

Sitting up on that high chair and wearing the Region’s chain of office like a king wears a crown, Caslin also banged a gavel a lot (the current Niagara Regional Chair, Jim Bradley, typically doesn’t wear that pre-Magna Carta, medieval necklace and I have yet to see him bang a gavel), and although I never saw  Caslin break a gavel, that probably says more about the strength of the gavel than anything else. Continue reading →

Who was the regional “councillor” in the Ontario Ombudsman’s Report who functioned like a go-between in getting Carmen D’Angelo the chief administrative job at Niagara Region?

Who on the council of former Niagara regional chair Al Caslin worked so actively to help Carmen D’Angelo get the Region’s CAO job through a procee the Ontario Ombudsman has called “unjust” and “wrong”? The voters and taxpayers of Niagara deserve to know who that councillor was.

“This (regional) councillor told us (Ombudsman Office investigators) that he does not recall speaking with the employee (Niagara’s regional government) about Mr. D’Angelo as the CAO candidate. However, we obtained an email from the councillor to the employee dated April 15, 2016, in which the councillor thanks the employee for the meeting, and suggests that the employee mention Mr. D’Angelo’s name to other staff as a good candidate for CAO.”                                                                                                       – an excerpt from Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dube’s “Inside Job” report, made public  November 29^th, 2019, on the circumstances around of  now former Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Carmen D’Angelo

A Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper

Posted December 2nd, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Carmen D’Angelo, Niagara Region’s now former Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), who got the top administrative job through a process Ontario’s Ombudsman has concluded was “compromised,” “unjust,” and “wrong.” \

Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dube’s long-awaited report on the hiring process that saw former NPCA CAO Carmen D’Angelo get the CAO job at Niagara Region – a process that Dube ultimately called “compromised,” “unjust,” and “wrong” – was finally released this November 29^th with at least one glaring set of information left out.

The report, as powerful as it was in confirming the scandalous conduct many Region watchers were trying to wave red flags about all along, failed to name who the individuals in the shadows were who aided and abetted the Region’s now former CAO, Carmen D’Angelo, in his quest for the $230,000-plus a year top job.

There are certainly numerous references to “the Chair” (although most Niagara residents who have paid attention know who that is or was – Al Caslin), to “the Chair’s Policy Director,” to “the Chair’s Director of Communications,” to “the Clerk,” to “the Director of People Services and Organizational Development,” and on and on. Continue reading →

Carmen D’Angelo – at the focus of an Ontario Ombudsman’s investigation into the “inside job” around his hiring to the top administrative post, commanding  $230,000-plus  a year in salary and benefits, at Niagara Region

“Mr. D’Angelo (the now former Niagara Regional CAO) was provided (prior to his hiring to theCAO’s job) with substantive content to be used in his application materials by insiders who had access to information not available to the general public or to other candidates. The lack of fairness and transparency in the hiring process created controversy and distrust within the region and served to undermine public confidence in local government.” – from the Ontario Ombudsman report “Inside Job,” released November 29th, 2019

By Doug Draper

Posted November 29th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

“Inside Job.”

That is the name Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dube gave to his 71-page report, released by his office this November 19th,  on the conduct of former Niagara Regional chair Al Caslin and other former politicos and administrators around the hiring three years ago of the Region’s ex-CAO Carmen D’Angelo.

Ontario Ombudsman calls the process used to hire former Niagara Region CAO Carmen D’Angelo “unjust” and “wrong.” Seated to D’Angelo’s left here is former Niagara regional chair Al Caslin. file photo by Doug Draper

It was a hiring of an individual for a job … through a process that was “compromised” in ways that “created controversy and distrust within the region and served to undermine public confidence in local government,” stated the Ombudsman following an investigation by his office that took more than a year. Continue reading →

Thorold Mayor Terry Ugulini

“I am pleased with the outcome. ….I have personally heard from  hundreds of residents and businesses as to the importance of the Thorold Tunnel  and I want to assure everyone that we took your concerns directly to the  ministry.”                                                              – Terry Ugulini, Mayor, City of Thorold

News from Niagara’s Regional Government

Posted November 29th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – On Monday, Nov. 25, representatives from the Ministry of Transportation, Niagara Region and City of Thorold met to discuss potential solutions regarding  the challenges of snow clearing in the Thorold Tunnel during the construction.

The problem-plagued Thorold Tunnel seems to be in a permanent state of reconstruction. The tunnel has been the scene of water leaks, traffic accidents and other bad scenes for decades. Is it being fixed well this time? File photo by Doug Draper

All parties are pleased to announce that a mutually agreed upon solution has  been reached to keep the tunnel open to two-way traffic this winter.

Monday’s discussion centered on the need to ensure safety for motorists as everyone’s top priority, while respecting the serious inconvenience that a  detour would cause if the tunnel were only available to one-way traffic. Continue reading →

And Wishing that All of Us Can Find the Sense of Community I did at a Warm and Wonderful Old Inn on Cape Cod

A Lament for the Sense of Community we have lost in the ‘Geography of Nowhere’ by Doug Draper, Niagara At Large

Posted November 28^th, 2019

A painting of the Old Sea Pines Inn by one of Cape Cod’s finest artists, Karen North Wells

As friends and families gather across the American side of the border for what I hope will be a Thanksgiving that brings them a little warmth and peace during these tumultuous times, I think back to the more than 20 years my wife Mary, daughter Sarah and I spent with a large gathering of  our American friends each year at this time at a beautiful old New England inn on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

For all of those years, during the last week of November, we would get together at the Old Sea Pines Inn and share our hopes and fears and hugs, and talk about the wins, the losses and the draws in our lives, between walks along a beach or trips to one or more of the towns on the Cape. Continue reading →

How Ford Government Says It Is Taking Steps to Strengthen Flood Resiliency in Communities

News during the record flooding damaging and destroying property in several communities in Ontario in the spring of 2019

Among the Steps Already Taken According to the Ford Government’s Report – “In spring 2019, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry provided approximately 890,000 sandbags to municipalities throughout southern and eastern Ontario and deployed over 60 Fire Ranger crews and additional support staff to many impacted municipalities.”

News from Ontario’s Ford Government

Posted November 28^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Ontario Premier Doug Ford visiting some of the water swamped communities in the Ottawa area during the spring of 2019

Toronto — The Ontario government is taking action to strengthen the province’s resiliency to flooding. 

“The safety of the public and the protection of our communities is our number one priority,” said John Yakabuski, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. “After last spring’s flooding, we recognized that we needed an external perspective on the current roles and responsibilities of the governments, agencies and organizations involved in flood management – someone who could provide independent advice on improvements we can make.” Continue reading →

“These costs hurt families – including the sky-high Liberal hydro bills already being jacked even higher by the Conservatives.”       – Ontario NDP and Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath

News from the NDP, Ontario’s Official Opposition Party, the

Posted November 28th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath

Queen’s Park – The Official Opposition New Democrats want to know the total price tag for Doug Ford’s move to bulldoze 750 green energy contracts, and they’ll try to make that happen with a vote at the Public Accounts Committee on Wednesday.

Ontario’s Auditor General has told the NDP it’s going to take a vote in the legislature, an order from the Public Accounts Committee, or a request from a cabinet minister to spark an audit of the total cost – which is already at $231 million with, according to the Toronto Star, only 215 of 750 projects having applied so far. Continue reading →

‘The $6 billion price tag for this tax cut will mean less investment in the vital services that families rely on: education, healthcare, and support for seniors.’

Find Out More About How You Can Add Your Voice To This ‘Service Over Tax Cuts’ Campaign Below

A Call-Out from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA)

Posted November 28^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Let’s talk about what $6 billion of investment could do for communities from coast to coast to coast.

This fall’s historic election was dominated by two themes: affordability and climate change. Time and again, those were the concerns that Canadians brought to town halls, candidates’ meetings, and debates across the country. Continue reading →

“I don’t understand why this Premier is so determined to repeat the Walkerton disaster. Protecting clean and safe drinking water is not ‘red tape’.”                 – Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch

In the year 2000 in the rural community of Walkerton, Ontario, under the Conservative government of then-premier Mike Harris, seven people died and more than thousand people became ill – some of them permanently – in the wake of the government gutting safeguards for protecting and monitoring sources of drinking water across the province. Is Harris’s Tory friend and successor, Doug Ford, now setting the stage for more Walkerton-like disasters in Ontario?

A Statement from Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch followed by a brief Footnote from Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper

Posted November 27th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch

Queen’s Park — Jeff Burch, MPP for Niagara Centre and NDP critic for municipal affairs, released the following statement after the president of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario told a government committee Monday that municipalities are asking to be released from legal liability for dangerous drinking water as a result of the Ford government’s gutting of water protections.

“It is unbelievable that in 2019 we are rolling back water protections to the point that municipal leaders are fearful that they will be held liable for a future disaster that is made almost inevitable by this government’s shortsightedness. Continue reading →

Seaway shipping stoppages this December 2019 would cost economy $250 million/per week

“We have the greatest sympathy for Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River residents and business owners that have been impacted by flooding due to unprecedented weather conditions. This situation has also cost our supply chain millions of dollars,” – Canada/U.S. Chamber of Marine Commerce President Bruce Burrows.

Signficant parts of the Port Dalhousie Harbour area and Lakeside Park is under water for the second time in just three years this past spring of 2019 due to near record high water levels in Lake Ontario. File photo by Doug Draper

News from the Canada/U.S. Chamber of Marine Comierce, with a Foreword from Niagara At Large reporter Doug Draper

Posted November 25^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

A Foreword by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper –

I still wonder what, if anything, was going through the head of Doug Ford – the most dangerously stupid person who has served as Ontario premier in my 40 years as a news reporter – while he was visiting communities in the Ottawa area and lower Great Lakes this spring, where people were suffering countless hundreds of millions of dollars of destruction to their properties from near-record flooding.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, visiting communities suffering severe damage from near record-high flooding earlier this year. During the same time these floods were destroying thousands of Ontario residents’ properties, Ford and his government were cutting funding for flood management programs that cost a mere fraction of the dollar damage these floods were doing to whole neighbourhoods and communities in the province. Does the premier know how to do math?

To be sure, scientists can hardly say with certainty that any one single flood or violent wind storm or other severe weather event was caused by climate change. But now, more than ever before, the growing severity and frequency of these events,  make climate change, for most scientists around the world, the primary suspect.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford claims that we will actually come out ahead if he saves us a few pennies per litre fighting the federal government’s effort to put a price on climate-damaging carbon pollution. His Tory allies Andrew Scheer and Jason Kenny are joining him in this fight.

And yet there was Ford, doing his ‘everyday-guy, my-heart-feels-for-these-people schtick, while visiting homeowners who have experienced major damage to their homes  this past spring and summer. And at the same time, he and his anti-environment Conservative government were cutting funding for flood-management across  Ontario, for planting trees that help absorb greenhouse gases, and were generally working away at weakening rules and regulations for protecting and preserving our watersheds and green spaces. Continue reading →

On Friday, November 29th, Noon to 1:00  P.M at St. Catharines City Hall. Help Keep the Pressure on for Climate Action Now!

One of the several hundred Niagara, Ontario area residents who joined the last big strike for our climate in the region this past September. Photo by Marie Cipriyk

A Call-Out from Extinction Rebellion Niagara (XRN) and Fridays for Future Niagara (FFFN)

Posted November 25th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – XRN and FFFN are joining in the Fourth Global Climate Strike called by Fridays for Future, the International students Climate movement, on Friday,  November 29th, just days before the UN’s  25th Climate Summit. 

Once more, all  students (primary, secondary, tertiary, alternative), all non-essential  workers and all others in St. Catharines and Niagara are encouraged to STRIKE with fellow-students and workers worldwide as part of the movement to make governments and businesses take radical action to avert the Climate Collapse crisis that will prove catastrophic for this generation and for all future generations.

More than 500 join a climate strike rally this September as millions of others held rallies for our planet around the world

Locally, regionally, XRN and FFFN  are inviting ALL  to join them at *City Hall, 50 Church Street*, St. Catharines, to participate in an hour long rally and CALL TO ACTION directed specially to governments and to businesses. Continue reading →

“We are here to talk about a global opportunity for the                                             Niagara River.”                                             – Veteran conservationist and Canadian Co-chair of the Niagara River Ramsar Designation Steering Committee Jocelyn Baker to the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s board of directors, November 20^th, 2019

A News Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted November 20th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

The Canadian side of the Niagara River is one giant step closer to getting the world-wide recognition it deserves as a wetland of international importance.

At a meeting this November 20th of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s board of directors, the board unanimously agreed to endorse a special wetland designation for the Canadian side of the Niagara River – a designation that is ultimately approved under the Ramsar Convention, first signed in 1971 in the City of Ramsar, and now boasting 170 member nations around the world, including Canada and the United States.

The Niagara River watershed, from Lake Erie at the bottom to Lake Ontario at the top, from space.

The board’s endorsement places the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) back on the side of supporting such a prestigious designation for the river – something that former NPCA managers and board members backed away from in the wake of fears expressed by some over the past few years that such a move may have negative repercussions for what developers and farmers can or cannot do on lands falling within the Niagara River watershed.

The endorsement is also a credit to Jocelyn Baker, Canadian Co-Chair of the Niagara River Ramsar Designation Steering Committee and veteran conservationist who is also a former NPCA water restoration manager, and to a team of dedicated volunteers on her committee who have been working to achieve the designation for this iconic river since 2013.

This past October, half of her steering committee’s dream came true when its Ramsar committee counterparts across the border, having received all the endorsements they needed from councils for Erie and Niagara Counties, New York, from towns and cities along the river, and from a number of other parties, celebrated the official designation of the American side of the Niagara River as a wetland of international importance. Continue reading →

“As we mark National Housing Day, I am proud that City Council has made a bold decision to take action on the affordable housing crisis.”                                                                                                 – St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik

“All levels of government must do their part to create more affordable housing.”                                                                                     – St. Catharines City Councillor Karrie Porter

News from the City of St. Catharines in Niagara, Ontario

Posted November 22^nd, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Downtown St. Catharines, Ontario. File photo by Doug Draper

St. Catharines, Ontario  –  This week for National Housing Day, St. Catharines City Council has voted to transform an under-utilized downtown City property into affordable housing to help tackle the affordable housing crisis.

At its Council meeting on Monday night (November 18^th), City Council voted unanimously to surplus a city-owned property at 6-8 Academy St. for affordable housing through a request for proposals process that will be launched in early 2020.

“As we mark National Housing Day, I am proud that City Council has made a bold decision to take action on the affordable housing crisis,” stated Mayor Sendzik. Continue reading →

The Day They Shot John Kennedy

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper

Posted November 22^nd, 2019 on Niagara At Large

U.S. President John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie, landing in Dallas, Texas on Friday, November 22nd, 1963, shortly before he was gunned down during a motorcade through the city.

It was Friday, November 22^nd, 1963.

Virtually anyone over the age of 10 and living in the United States and Canada at that time would remember exactly where they were that day when they heard the news.

I was back in my Grade 7 class after the noon-hour break at the school I was attending in Welland when our gym teacher – normally a pretty tough and sturdy guy – peeked his head in the door, his eyes all wet, and told us we should go straight home because school was out for the day. “President Kennedy has been shot and killed,” he said. Continue reading →

Don’t Cue the Balloons Yet, Though

Ford is still plowing ahead with a $700-million cut to the colleges and universities’ sector, making student loans more expensive and schools more strapped for operating dollars.

News from Ontario’s Official Opposition New Democratic Party

Posted November 22nd, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Ford cuts to college and university students have inspired protests across the province

TORONTO – The Official Opposition New Democrats’ critic for Colleges and Universities, Chris Glover (Spadina—Fort York) said the NDP is very happy that yesterday’s Ontario Superior Court ruling strikes down Doug Ford’s attack on student unions, giving students who rely on student media and on-campus support centres hope that those services will be restored.

“The court is very clear that Doug Ford’s attack on student unions and the services they provide is an attack on the fundamental rights of Ontario students,” said Glover. Continue reading →

Niagara Region Selects Two New Waste Collection Contractors – GFL Environmental and Miller Waste Systems Inc. – to Begin    in Fall of Next Year

“Every-Other-Week Garbage Collection (also coming in next year), coupled with weekly collection of recycling and organics, will help to increase Niagara Region’s waste diversion rate towards our target of 65 per cent.”                                                       – Niagara Regional Chair Jim Bradley

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

Posted November 22nd, 2019 on Niagara At Large

It was less than a decade ago – in February of 2011 – that a new waste collection contractor, the Emterra Group, rolled in to Niagara from its home base in Burlington to begin serving residents and businesses here.

In February of 2011, some of the Emterra waste collection trucks, all lined up and ready to roll across Niagara. File photo by Doug Draper

“We are ready to make this happen,” said one of Emterra’s operators  as the company was  about to launch its new fleet of trucks with the words; “More Recycling, Less Waste – Rethink Your Waste,” emblazoned on their sides.

Eight years later, the Emterra trucks don’t look as shiny any more and complaints have come in to Niagara’s regional government over the past few years about the company falling behind  collection schedules – sometimes by as much as a day or two. Continue reading →

Ontario Ministry of Transportation is Reportedly Looking at Closing  Problem-Plagued Thorold Tunnel to Two-Way Traffic

“We have had local business owners tell us this is a disaster for business, residents tell us about the hardships this will cause and local elected officials are demanding a meeting to get answer about when the Ministry knew the tunnel was unsafe.”                   – Niagara Fals MPP Wayne Gates

“Is the(Ontario transportation) minister prepared to listen to local elected officials and take the necessary steps to maintain the current traffic configuration in order to ensure our community is safe, accessible and moving efficiently?”                                              – Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch

Thorold Tunnel running under the Welland Canal in Niagara, Ontario, shut down temporarily again this past October due to another in a series of potentially deadly accident that occurred inside. Photo by Doug Draper

A News Release from the Constituency Officies of Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch and Niagara Falls MPP Wayne

Posted November 21st, 2019 on Niagara At Large

QUEEN’S PARK – NDP MPPs Jeff Burch (Niagara Centre) and Wayne Gates (Niagara Falls) this November 21st  urged Doug Ford to explain why the Ministry of Transportation decided to close two-way traffic through the Thorold tunnel without consulting local people. Continue reading →

Program Will Help Keep Seniors Healthy in Niagara

“By providing seniors with access to quality dental care and keeping them out of hospitals, this new program is a key part of our plan to end hallway health care.”                                                   – Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott.

“The announcement today addresses the growing needs of our aging population in Niagara.”                                                                –  Sam Oosterhoff, MPP for Niagara West

News from the Ontario Government

Posted November 21^st, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott

Thorold, Ontario – As part of its comprehensive plan to end hallway health care, Ontario is investing in programs that keep seniors healthy in their communities longer.

Each year in Ontario, preventable dental issues like gum disease, infections and chronic pain lead to more than 60,000 emergency department visits by patients, of which a significant portion are seniors. Many low-income seniors face challenges accessing regular dental care because they cannot afford it, impacting their overall well-being.

This is why the government is investing approximately $90 million annually for the new Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program (OSDCP), which will provide free routine dental care for eligible low-income seniors in Niagara and across the province. In doing so, the government expects to reduce the number of dental-related emergency department visits, helping to end hallway health care. Continue reading →

News from the Niagara Poverty Reduction Network in Niagara, Ontario

Posted November 21st, 2019 on Niagara At Large

The Niagara Poverty Reduction Network is pleased to announce that Con Gusto Artisan Bakery has become a certified living wage employer at the Champion level. 

Since first opening its doors in 2006, Con Gusto has earned a reputation as a go-to source for premium-quality artisanal breads, pastries and traditional Italian baking in Niagara. Based in St. Catharines, they currently employ six full-time and one part-time staff.

Niagara Poverty Reduction Network Chair Glen Walker (left) presents certificate for paying employees a living wage to Giovanni Stanziano, Owner of Con Gusto Artisan Bakery in St. Catharines, Ontario

“Con Gusto’s most important values are quality and integrity, which are just as important to the way we run our business as they are to the products we create. We care about our employees and being a Living Wage Employer is a way of demonstrating our commitment to their well-being and to the well-being of our community.” Says Giovanni Stanziano, Owner of Con Gusto Artisan Bakery.

“With this latest certification, Niagara now has 30 certified Living Wage employers,” says Glen Walker, Chair of the Niagara Poverty Reduction Network. “We are very pleased to see so many local employers from various sectors who recognize the value and benefits of paying their employees at least a living wage. Paying a living wage takes direct action to tackle poverty and we are excited to see the growing number of Niagara businesses joining us in this work.”

A living wage reflects what earners need to be paid based on the actual costs of living and being included in the community. A living wage is not the same as the legislated minimum wage. It is a voluntary commitment that employers can make to compensate directly-employed and contract-employed full-time and part-time workers.

The 2019 living wage for Niagara region has recently been calculated to be $18.12/hour. If an employer’s total compensation package includes benefits such as dental and prescription drugs, the living wage can be lowered by at least $1.00/hour. Learn more about Niagara’s living wage at www.wipeoutpoverty.ca

Niagara-area employers interested in becoming living wage certified can contact the Ontario Living Wage Network for more information at www.ontariolivingwage.ca

The Niagara Poverty Reduction Network is a collective of over 30 agencies and individuals working to wipe out poverty in Niagara through education, collaboration, and advocacy to address poverty’s root causes.

For more information on and from the Niagara Poverty Reduction Network, click on – www.wipeoutpoverty.ca .

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“A politician thinks of the next election. a leader thinks of the next generation.” – Bernie Sanders