Niagara At Large

“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 .

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 http://www.niagaraatlarge.com .

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

‘Not one man on regional council stood up and supported the creation of a women’s advisory committee without attaching his own preferences, ideas, and requirements to it. The men on regional council have soundly demonstrated why women need equal representation at every level of government.’

A Commentary by Melissa McGlashan, a citizen of Niagara, Ontario, living in the City of Welland

Posted November 19th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

On the evening of November 14th a motion was presented at Regional Council to strike a women’s advisory committee. The resulting debate revealed disturbing truths about the state of our regional council and the state of representation for women across our region.

Niagara’s current regional council, shown here during its inaugural meeting in December 2018, is made up of a total of 24 men and eight women. File photo by Doug Draper

Here in Niagara, 75 per cent of our regional councillors are men, three of four provincial ridings are represented by men, and all four federal ridings are represented by men.

A women’s advisory committee is an important step towards increasing representation and leadership opportunities for women and allowing for discussion by women of shared experiences, barriers to participation in society, and possible remedies. Continue reading →

“We … request a prompt meeting between local leaders and your Ministry in order to find a solution that accounts for our community who have expressed deep concern with this closure.” – Niagara NDP MPPs Jeff Burch, Wayne Gates and Jennie Stevens to Ontario Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney

One of the entrance ramps to the Thorold Tunnel, passing under the Welland Canal in Niagara, Ontario, and closed again this past October for yet another potentially deadly mishap in the tunnel. Over the past four months alone, the tunnel had to be temporarily closed because of a truck catching fire, a multi-vehicle collision, and concrete slabs falling from the ceiling of the tunnel falling when a truck grazed them. The Thorold tunnel, in many peoples’ mind,s, has been a nightmare for decades. At least two or three fatalities have occurred in the tunnel due to leaks of water from the tunnel walls turning to ice and other dangerous conditions. Photo by Doug Draper

An Open Letter , dated November 19^th, 2019, to Ontario’s Ford Government from Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch, Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates and St. Catharines MPP Jennie Stevens

Posted November 19^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Ford’s Transportation Minister, Caroline Mulroney

Letter to Caroline Mulroney, Ontario Ministry of Transportation

Dear Minister Mulroney:

We are sending you this urgent letter on behalf of the people of Niagara. For months now, thousands of Niagara drivers who rely on the Thorold tunnel daily have experienced inconvenience, delays and frustration.

With the recent news that the Ministry of Transportation is ending two-way traffic through the Thorold tunnel, citizens and local leaders have come forward demanding an answer. Vehicles eastbound to Niagara Falls would have to find an alternative route, one that is already facing issues of congestion and construction closures. Continue reading →

‘The Enbridge application makes no direct comments on the climatic impacts of the product it is shipping or the reasons why “climate change policy is expected to limit growth in annual natural gas demand”‘

News from Citizens at City Hall (CATCH), a citizens watchdog group in Hamilton, Ontario

Posted November 18^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Enbridge’s roposal to build a new 48-inch fracked gas pipeline across rural Hamilton now has been submitted to the Ontario Energy Board.

The company wants an approval by spring for the $200 million fossil fuel project that cuts across some of Hamilton’s most ecologically sensitive lands including the Beverly Swamp, Spencer Creek and Bronte Creek and publicly owned properties of the Hamilton Conservation Authority.

The project is also controversial because it assumes a future of even more use of fossil fuels that are the main cause of global heating. That’s further complicated by the pipeline gas being extracted by fracking – a process which some scientists believe <https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/8/15/20805136/climate-change-fracking-methane-emissions> makes it even more damaging to the atmosphere than coal or oil. Continue reading →

Green Party of Ontario leader Mike Schreiner

“We can develop science-based regulations that are fair for industry and put water for public use at the top of the priority list. Until these measures are in place, we must extend the moratorium on new water bottling.”      – Green Party of Ontario Leader Mike Schreiner

A News Release from the Green Party of Ontario

And a Chance for you to have a Say in Protecting our Province’s Water as a Public Trust

Posted November 16, 2019 on Niagara At Large

In an open letter to Environment Minister, Jeff Yurek, Green Party of Ontario leader, Mike Schreiner, asked for the moratorium on new and increased water-taking permits to be extended until stiffer water protection laws are in place.

Sign Mike Schreiner’s letter here

Honourable Jeff Yurek
Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks
College Park 5th Flr, 777 Bay St
Toronto, ON M7A 2J3
minister.mecp@ontario.ca

Re: Moratorium on new and expanded water bottling permits

Dear Hon. Minister Yurek:

As you are aware, the current moratorium on new and increased permits to take water expires at the end of the year.

Yours and previous governments have pledged to conduct a scientific review of our water sources and to consult with the public, experts and stakeholders before lifting the moratorium and allowing additional water taking.  Continue reading →

15-year-old Autumn Peltier is Canada’s own Greta Thunberg

“When there is no clean water left, our tears will fall as oil.”          – Autumn Peltier

Greta Thunberg (left) and Autumn Peltier, taking their turns at the United Nations, speaking for a healthy environment and their future. How many of us older people out there are ready to heed their call for action?

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

Posted November 15th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

15-year-old “water warrior” Autumn Peltier, another heroic champion for our planet.

Except for those who have spent the past year or two on another planet or not paying attention to the news, most of us have heard of Greta Thunberg.

Greta Thunberg is the 16-year-old climate activist from Sweden who has made headlines around the world with her passionate  pleas for climate action to world leaders at the United Nations and at other international venues, and who has ignited tens-of-millions of people– including more young people than ever before – to stand up for their future and demand more action from their elders.

Then there is 15-year-old Autumn Peltier.

Continue reading →

Official  Launch will take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 27 at the Film House at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in downtown St. Catharines, Ontario

News from Brock University

Posted November 15^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

You can’t point at any one climate-related episode and say with certainty that it was caused by climate change. On the other hand, here we were again this past spring, seeing near record-high waters in Lake Ontario for the second time in just three years, and walls of sandbags, like these in Port Dalhousie, St. Catharines, put there to protest shore area property from water damage. File photo by Doug Draper

Niagara, Ontario – A new alliance between seven Niagara region municipalities and Brock University’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC) is being created to aggressively seek innovative strategies that address how climate change is impacting the region.

The impacts that inflict a growing toll on communities are typically tied to increasingly volatile weather, such as rising average temperatures; summer droughts followed by heavy rains; and the increasing frequency and intensity of frost-free days and freeze-thaw cycles.

The partnership, aptly named Niagara Adapts, will leverage resources and expertise from ESRC and the Town of Grimsby, Town of Lincoln, City of Niagara Falls, Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Town of Pelham, City of St. Catharines and City of Welland. The goal of the partnership is to support collaborative climate change adaptation assessment, planning and implementation. Continue reading →

A News Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted November 14^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dube’s long anticipated report on all of the controversy surrounding the hiring of former Niagara Region CAO Carmen D’Angelo is now being reviewed by Niagara’s regional council, and may be only days away from being made public.

As I write this, Ontario’s Ombudsman Paul Dube has reportedly been in a closed meeting with Niagara Regional Chair Jim Bradley, Niagara’s 12 mayors and other members of the Region’s council where they were getting their first look at a report that Dube and his investigators prepared on conduct that, over the past three or four years, did a good deal to  shatter whatever  trust many area resident may have had  left in regional government.

The investigation and report – more than a year in the making – was largely sparked by information,  uncovered and reported in the local media, that the hiring three years ago of former Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority CAO Carmen D’Angelo to the position of CAO at the Region was carried out in ways that were highly questionable, to say the least.

Now former Niagara regional chair Al Caslin and the Region’s former CAO Carmen D’Angelo, overseeing a regional council meeting  two years ago. A File photo by Doug Draper

Allegations of wrongful conduct continued to surface over the past two or three years. More than a few of those allegations focused on members of former Niagara regional chair Al Caslin’s  staff, and on Caslin himself, including reports of him single-handedly or almost single-handedly brokering a three-year extension of D’Angelo’s CAO contract, without first  meeting with members of council to seek their approval. Continue reading →

“We are very pleased to see so many local employers who recognize the value and benefits of paying atgro least a living wage. Paying a living wage takes direct action to tackle poverty and we are excited to see the wing number of Niagara businesses joining us in this work.”                         – Glen Walker, Chair of the Niagara Poverty Reduction Network.

A News Release from the Niagara Poverty Reduction Network

Posted November 14th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – The Niagara Poverty Reduction Network is pleased to announce that Centennial Construction and Contracting (Niagara) Inc. has become a certified living wage employer at the Champion level. 

Centennial Construction is now a second generation family run business that was established in 1992. Originally just homebuilders, they eventually expanded into foundations, site servicing, concrete, and more.

Throughout the past five years, they have been putting in a lot of heart and effort towards new home builds across the Niagara Region with a modern style and design that differentiates them from others. Centennial Construction currently employs just over 60 employees in their construction, concrete and farm divisions. Continue reading →

“Significant damages and other impacts were experienced across the (Lake Ontario) system. Shoreline communities are seeking reliable ways to reduce property damages, protect critical infrastructure and maintain essential services.”

A wal of sandbags surround the base of the historic lighthouse at Port Dalhousie Harbour in St. Catharines, Ontario this spring of 2019 to protect it from near record high waters in Lake Ontario. File photo by Doug Draper

By Anthony M. “Tony” David

International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board, Canada/U.S. International Joint Commission

Posted November 13th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Lakeside Park beach in St. Catharines is swamped with rising waters from Lake Ontario this spring of 2019. This was the second time in a span of three years that the beach area was not available to visitors until well into late June and July. File photo by Doug Draper

(A Brief Foreword Note from Doug Draper at Niagara At Large –

This report, originally circulated by the International Joint Commission via the internet this October 2019, is one of many like it that Niagara At Large will make more of a practice of posting in this age of more frequent and severe climate-related episodes impacting on our lives and communities.

We will post reports like this and we will continue to join as many of you as possible in urging politicians at all levels of government to take the actions necessary to address what experts around the world now agree is a climate emergency and an existential danger to people, property and the communities we live in.)

When water supplies exceed capacity in the Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River system, water levels rise. When this happens, regulation is looked to as the solution.

But during periods of extreme water supply, the ability of regulated outflows to influence Lake Ontario levels is greatly diminished. In practical terms, no regulation plan can eliminate high water events on Lake Ontario or the St. Lawrence River.   Continue reading →

On Friday, November on Friday, November 15^th from 2 to 4 p.m. on the Brock campus’s Charles A. Sankey Chamber in St. Catharines, Ontario

An Invite to All form Brock University

Posted November 13^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Where is federal and provincial government action on cleaning up mercury pollution left over from old industrial operations in the English River watershed at the Grassy Narrows First Nation community in northern Ontario?

St. Catharines, Ontario – This Friday, November. 15th, Charlotte Henay, Lecturer at Brock’s Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies, will be joined by two external experts in a panel presentation titled “Climate Justice, Gender, and Environmental Racism.”

Margot Francis, Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and co-organizer of the event, explains that the panel will highlight the ways in which “minoritized communities suffer disproportionate harm from environmental toxification.”

“The impact of environmental devastation is not currently and has never been felt equally by everyone,” says Francis. “Communities in the global south who have been least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions are being harder hit, and in Canada, Indigenous and black communities have always been more vulnerable to environmental racism.” Continue reading →

The Sierra Club Writers Group of Western New York Encourages You to Participate, on Monday, November 18th, 2019 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the University of Buffalo South Campus Hayes Hall in Buffalo, New York

A Call-Out from the Sierra Club and the Citizens Regional Transit Corporation in the Buffalo/Western New York area

Posted November 13th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

We are reaching out to invite you to a local roundtable discussion regarding Sierra Club’s Transforming Transportation (https://my-geo.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=35f78c77c3fbd6dbbeeebe6ac&id=bd3902bba7&e=1e416ef83d) report on November 18th from 10:30am – 12:30pm at UB Hayes Hall 402. 

This year, New York passed the nation’s most ambitious climate legislation which will phase out fossil fuels in our economy by 2050. Over 1/3rd of our greenhouse gas emissions come from the transportation sector. Continue reading →

And How Many More Trees Are Going to Have to Fall in Forests in Niagara Before We Get a Stronger                    Tree Protection Bylaw in this Region?

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper 

Posted November 13^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

‘Cut and move on
Cut and move on
Take out trees
Take out wildlife at a rate of species every single day.’

• Lyric’s from Bruce Cockburn’s song ‘When a Tree Falls in the Forest’

Canadian-born singer/songwriter Bruce Cockburn performed a sold-out concert at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in St. Catharines this October and one of the songs he sang was If A Tree Falls in the Forest.

As Cockburn performed the song, members of the audience joined him in singing the chorus; “If a tree falls in the forest, does anybody hear?”

Last year, a number of trees were sawed down or bulldozed out of the way in forests in Niagara Falls and Fort Erie, and on the property of a historic old estate in Niagara-on-the-Lake , and many people heard.

A tree taken down in Waverly Woods in Fort Erie last year, much to the chagrin of residents in the community, fighting to keep the woods free of urban development.

They not only heard and witnessed the destruction themselves, they made angry calls to the powers that be in government, only to be told, for the most part,  that the regional government’s current tree protection bylaw is not strong enough to do anything of any real substance about it. Continue reading →

Jobs in Manufacturing, Health Care Hit Hardest

A News Release from Ontario’s NDP and Official Opposition Party

Posted November 12th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

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

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and his Conservatives have declared the province “open for business.” Okay, so why aren’t there more full-time jobs and living wages?

Did I miss hearing something in all of the “open for business” sermons coming out of Ontario Premier Doug Ford and his Conservatives over the past 16 months?

Without ever showing Ontarians any details or substantive plans or policies in the run-up to the June 2018 provincial election, Ford and company told us  they were going to make Ontario “open for business” by cutting red tape (code for tearing up labour safety, building code, planning and environmental rules and regulations) and cutting taxes for “job creators,” which is a totally misleading term the radical right and their supporters use for any business that donates money to their party.

And, oh yes, Ford and his “government for the people” crusaders followed through on a promise to cap the minimum wage at a rate that falls significantly below what has been calculated by Poverty Reduction Networks across Ontario, including Niagara’s network, to be a living hourly wage in most communities because as Ford and his minions put it, anything higher than a capped down poverty wage is “a job killer.” Continue reading →

A Statement from Phil Wachel, President of Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Locaal 4207, shared with Niagara At Large

Posted November 11th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

“In light of recent events that have occurred regarding racist, derogatory statements that have gone as far as call for violence against Indigenous Peoples on behalf of NAFA’s Facebook page, we, CUPE Local 4207, express our support of the traditional deer harvest that is part of inherent and treaty rights of Indigenous Peoples at Short Hills Provincial Park.

“Though NAfA (Niagara Action for Animals) has issued what they refer to as an ‘apology’, this once again reverses the onus in saying that it is one’s own fault for being offended.  

“The general tenor of the posts to their Facebook page as well as the administrators’ response is not acceptable.  Acts of colonial violence, racism and intolerance must not be ignored and treated with the utmost seriousness. 

“Everyone has the right to protest and express an opinion.  Protesting only in an area where Indigenous Peoples conduct a traditional harvest, calling on members of NAFA to commit acts of violence, is perpetuating colonial racism and violence against Indigenous Peoples.

“We support inherent and treaty rights, and denounce any and all acts of violence.”

• Phil Wachel, President

Canadian Union of Public Employees local 4207, Co-host of the Indigenous Rights Conference

1812 Sir Isaac Brock Brock Way, MC C 402, St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1

Brock University

To read a piece Niagara At Large posted earlier this November 11th on the upcoming Indigenous Rights Conference on Saturday, November 16th click on https://niagaraatlarge.com/2019/11/11/you-are-invited-to-an-indigenous-rights-conference/

To read a statement of regret from Niagara Action for Animals and the Short Hills Wildlife Alliance, posted on Niagara At Large on November 8th, click on – https://niagaraatlarge.com/2019/11/08/short-hills-deer-hunt-protesters-offer-regrets-for-words-perceived-to-be-offensive-on-facebook-page/

To read Niagara At Large journalist Doug Draper’s commentary on this disturbing affair, click on – https://niagaraatlarge.com/2019/11/07/racist-words-disgrace-short-hills-deer-hunt-protesters-and-their-cause/ .

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

On Saturday, November 16th, 2019 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Brock University’s Marilyn I.Walker School of the Fine and Performing Arts in downtown St. Catharines, Ontario

A News Release form the Supporters of the Haudenosaunee Right to Hunt

Posted November 11^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

St Catharines, Ontario – The Supporters of Haudenosaunee Right to Hunt are pleased to release the schedule for their upcoming Indigenous Rights Conference (in St. Catharines/Niagara).

The conference isa spectacular interdisciplinary program featuring Indigenous women scholars who look across multiple Indigenous Rights issues.

Mayor Walter Sendzik and the Strong Water Women, Niagara Women’s Drum Group, will help to open theconference.

It will be held Saturday November 16, 2019 from 9:00 am until 8:00 pm. at Brock University’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, 15 Artists’ Common, downtown St. Catharines in Niagara, Ontario.

Michele-Elise Burnett

Michele–Elise Burnett, Celebration of Nations Artistic Director and Brock University’s Aboriginal Education Council Co-Chair explains why it was important to her that Celebration of Nations partner with the Indigenous Rights Conference:

“By having our rights recognized and respected shows the Two Row Collaboration in action! There is a positive Indigenous momentum happening in Niagara. Celeste and Jodielynn [Co-Founders of The Supporters of Haudenosaunee Right to Hunt] are true warriors set on a mission to education the public of our inherent right to hunt and what it means to our peoples and our future generations.” Continue reading →

Wednesday, November 13th at 8 p.m. at the  St. Catharines Central Library. The Forum is open to all and  Free of Charge

Posted November 11^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

A Brief Foreword Note from NAL publisher Doug Draper –

With all of the recent discussion and controversy over some racist language aimed at Indigenous people who participate in an annual deer hunt in Short Hills Provincial Park in Niagara, this public forum, organized before that troubling episode occurred, could not be more timely and important.

So try, if you can, to attend this forum if you can and join in a discussion aimed at making our communities more welcome and peaceful for everyone.

On Wednesday November 13th , at 8 p.m. the  Niagara District Council of Women will hold a public forum on racism, discrimination and oppression.

Now here is News about the Public Forum from the Niagara District Council of Women – 

Niagara is not immune to racism, discrimination and oppression – a most  disturbing  fact  recognized by Niagara Regional Councillors as they voted recently  to join the Canada-wide  Coalition of Inclusive Municipalities , such as Hamilton, London and Windsor.

Niagara District Council of Women, strongly supports this action , and as  its President, Gracia Janes notes:  “  From  press reports of an  ever-growing platform of hateful messages on the internet and   graffiti  on private fences, to school yard bullying and  personal experiences , this blight is now clearly in the public’s view and needs remedying quickly and strongly.”

Forum panelists  – Nona Bader, of the  Niagara Anti-Racism Association, Laura Ip, Niagara Regional Councillor, Nyarayi Kapisavanhu, ED Tools of Empowerment for Success, and Saleh Wazirudden, Chair  City of St. Catharines’ Anti-Racism Committee have experienced, and /or closely observed  racism, discrimination and oppression, and  are working together to counter this growing blight and  to create an inclusive  society here in Niagara.

For more information on the very good community work of the Niagara District Council of Women, click on – http://ndcw.ca/ .

For an earlier post on this event, click on – https://niagaraatlarge.com/2019/10/31/you-are-invited-to-a-public-forum-on-racism-discrimination-and-oppression-in-our-niagara-region/

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 0ur   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

A Statement by the Canada’s Prime Minister on Remembrance Day 

Posted November 11th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Canadian soldiers, about to assualt the beaches of Normandy, France, D-Day, June 6, 1944

Ottawa, Ontario –  The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement on Remembrance Day:

“Today, we come together to honour the brave Canadians in uniform who have served our country throughout our history. They’ve built peace. They’ve defended democracy. And they’ve enabled countless people to live in freedom – at home and around the world.

“Remembrance Day <https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance> was first held in 1919 on the first anniversary of the armistice agreement that ended the First World War. Continue reading →

November 9^th, 1989, the Day the Berlin Wall was Demolished in a Spirit of Peace and Celebration

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper

Posted November 9th, 2019 

“If you are not moving forward, you are moving backward.”
― Mikhail Gorbachev

Many of us know that Americans like to give their president at the time – that former B-movie actor  and television commercial pitchman Ronald Reagan – much of the credit for the Berlin Wall coming down.

Mikhail Gorbachev, who chose to stand back and let the wall come tumbling down.

I may get myself in trouble for saying this, but I think a lot of  credit also has to go to courageous freedom fighters like union organizer and later to become Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa of Poland, and to the last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev who, rather than unleash troops and tanks, just let it be.

Let’s be fair and give the proper amount of credit where credit is due.

It always kind of seemed to at least some of us at the time that Gorbachev wanted to put an end to the dark decades of the Cold War and Soviet oppression too.

So the Berlin Wall tumbled in a celebration of peace and now we have another world leader chomping at the bit to build another one along his country’s southern border.

To view some of that mind-blowing footage many watched on television at the time, click on the screen below –

Meanwhile, closer to home in 2019, at the border intersecting the world’s largest supply of what we hope will be healthy, fresh water for generations to come –

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.

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

Protesters Say They “sincerely regret that comments were posted on NAfA’s (Niagara Action for Animal’s) Facebook page that were perceived to be hateful, threatening and/or discriminatory in any way, and that these comments were not  immediately called out.”

A Statement from Niagara Action for Animals (NAfA) and Short Hills Wildlife Alliance (SHWA)

Posted November 8^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

A Brief Foreword by Doug Draper at Niagara At Large –

Niagara Action for Animals (NAfA) and the Short Hills Wildlife Alliance (SHWA) issued the following statement this November 7^th, a day after reports appeared in Niagara daily newspapers about vile words and comments appearing on NAfA’s Facebook page.

Deer hunt opponents gather for protest at Short Hills Provincial Park in Niaara, Ontario

The ugly words were aimed at members of the Indigenous community who, with the blessing now of two Ontario governments (the former Liberals and now Doug Ford’s Conservatives) exercise their Aboriginal Treaty rights each year around this time to hunt deer for a few days in Short Hills Provincial Park in Niagara. Continue reading →

NDP fights Ford’s attempt to give himself the power to pass bills even faster

His government may have been elected with significantly less than half the popular vote, and polls may show that his own popularity is in the toilet, but that doesn’t seem to be stopping Doug Ford from wanting to run Ontario as if he were anointed King.

A News Release from Ontario’s New Democratic Party

Posted November 8^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Like his carbon-loving, radical right kindred spirit to the south, Doug Ford (right) appears to want to govern the way Donald Trump does and sign executive orders rather than put his ideas through a full and fair democratic process

QUEEN’S PARK – The NDP will oppose a package of changes the Doug Ford government is planning to push through – changes that would allow Ford to introduce and pass a bill even faster, with even less public input.

“As it is, Doug Ford has done his best to prevent the people of Ontario from having any opportunity to weigh in on changes that impact them,” said NDP House Leader Gilles Bisson. “With Doug Ford, we see a lot of backroom deals cooked up with insiders, and very little consultation with everyday Ontarians.

“Now, the system that prevents much consultation is about to go from bad to worse.” Continue reading →

All Are Welcome – Begin at 10:45 a.m. on Monday, November 11^th at Brock’s Ian Beddis Gymnasium (Walker Complex) in St. Catharines, Ontario

Posted November 8^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – On Monday, Nov. 11, Brock University is hosting a Remembrance Day gathering in the Ian Beddis Gymnasium (Walker Complex) beginning at 10:45 a.m.

This is the first time in three years Brock is hosting a Remembrance Day gathering as it hasn’t fallen on a weekday since 2016.

The event will include Aboriginal drumming, a two-minute moment of silence at 11 a.m., the singing of O Canada, placing of the wreaths, and various readings of Remembrance Day poems, including Laurence Binyon’s For the Fallen and John McCrae’s In Flanders Fields. Continue reading →

One of the protest signs that have greeted Indigenous hunters at Short Hills Park

Protesters Could Do More For Wildlife Working Together with Indigenous Community – But it May Be Too Late for that Now

A Group That Has Done A Lot of Good Work for Animals May Have Drowned Itself  in a Cesspool of Hateful Words

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

Posted November 7^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

How sad and sickening this all is! But let me start by saying this.

When I first heard, seven or eight years ago, that Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) was going to allow a “controlled hunt” for deer, or what the ministry sometimes called a “harvest,” in Short Hills Provincial Park, I was a bit shocked.

Deer in Short Hills Provincial Park sprawling through the borders of St. Catharines, Thorold and Pelham. File photo by Dan Wilson

As a kid growing up in the northwest end of Welland, my friends and I would bike out to the Short Hills on hot summer days and we were often told by our elders to tread lightly in or around the park because it was a “nature sanctuary.”

We were also warned not to pick any of the white trilliums, which were scattered in bunches beneath the park’s tree canopy, because picking them was illegal, which may or may not have been true.

Nevertheless, the message my friends and I grew up with was clear.  Short Hills was a protected area for wildlife and we were to walk its paths with the lightest possible footprints and leave everything living in it alone.

So from my perspective, at least, any hunting of deer or any other animal in that park, by whatever group, for whatever reason, was wrong. Continue reading →

This Thursday, November 7th at 7 p.m. at the Niagara Falls Public Library on 4848 Victoria Avenue in Niagara Falls, Ontario

A Brief Note from Doug Draper

Posted November 7th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Marcie Jacklin, a Fort Erie, Ontario resident and great conservationist and expert on birds, and one of the people fighting to save Waverly Woods from developers in her community, was good enough to circulate the following note about what sounds like a very interesting presentation we can all attend.

Some of you may remember Snake Hill in Fort Erie as the place where a construction crew happened to come across the remains of several American soldiers from the War of 1812, who were then repatriated in a moving caravan of hearses crossing the Peace Bridge to the U.S. side.

Here is Marcie’s note –

Are you a history buff?

You might like to attend June Chipp’s presentation entitled “Tragedy at Snake Hill: An Unknown Fort Erie Battlefield?” Her talk is on Thursday November 7th at 7 pm at the Niagara Falls Public Library. 

Finally, here is a short video on some of the history of the Snake Hill site that you may also find interesting. Click on the screen below to watch –

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

Input Will Help Town and Partnering Niagara Communities Put Together a Climate Adaption Plan for our Future 

This Climate Survey is Applicable to Residents of Pelham, St. Catharines, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Grimsby, Niagara Falls, Lincoln, and Welland

Let’s hear from all of you! Niagara Adapts is a partnership that brings together seven Niagara municipalities — Grimsby, Lincoln, Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Pelham, St. Catharines and Welland — with Brock’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC) to address climate change.

Message from Niagara Adapts, a partnership that brings together seven Niagara municipalities with Brock’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC) to address climate change.

Posted November 6^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

The Town of Pelham, collaborating with Niagara Adapts, is looking for input on their climate vulnerability assessment.

Filling out a survey could net you $300. Currently, all municipalities involved with Niagara Adapts (Pelham, St. Catharines, Welland, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara Falls, Grimsby, and Lincoln) are in the process of conducting their vulnerability assessments.

These assessments are crucial for developing robust climate solutions in a climate adaptation plan.  Defined by the International Council on Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), vulnerability is a function of both the sensitivity and the adaptive capacity of a given sector, and understanding how such factors are influenced by impacts posed by climate change will help key decision makers identify the best-fit climate solutions accordingly.   Continue reading →

A News Commentary by Doug Draper, followed by a Salary Disclosures Statement released this November 5^th by the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA)

Posted November 6^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

In a brief statement circulated to the media this November 5^th, the NPCA has disclosed the salaries for six positions at the agency that command salaries of $100,000 or more.

The statement comes after the office of Ontario’s Information and Salaries Commissioner ruled this October that disclosing the salaries at an agency that receives more than $10 million annually in public funds is in the “public interest” and over-rides any privacy concerns.

The six positions listed in the statement, along with the salaries that come with them, are as follows:

• Manager, Information Management & Technology (previously disclosed) $102,035
• Manager, Finance $102,035
• Senior Manager, Operations & Special Projects $110,347
• Director, Watershed Management $130,274
• Senior Director, Corporate Services $147,383
• Chief Administrative Officer $156,267

Ed Smith, a St. Catharines resident and community activist, made the request for disclosing the salaries before he was appointed to the NPCA’s board earlier this year by St. Catharines city council.

Ed Smith, a St. Catharines resident and citizen activist, filed a request for the disclosure of the salaries to the provincial commissioner’s office  last year, before he was appointed earlier this year to a position on the NPCA’s board of directors by St. Catharines city council.

Smith did so after the last NPCA board of directors and its then-chair Sandy Annunziata – a board that drew considerable public controversy over the past four years with a make-up of mostly municipal mayors and regional councillors who are now gone – did not disclose any NPCA administrators salaries for the province’s 2018 so-called Sunshine list for public servant salaries annually worth $100,000 or more.

Annunziata, who was also a regional councillor for Fort Erie before he was defeated in the October municipal elections, insisted last year that the Conservation Authority submitted six-digit salaries to provincial bureaucrats putting together the Sunshine List but was told that the NPCA did not qualify to make the list, and its submission was rejected. Continue reading →

On Energy the Alliance of World Scientists is urging humanity to take “immediate steps” to “implement massive conservation practices; replace fossil fuels with low-carbon renewables; leave remaining stocks of fossil fuels in the ground; eliminate subsidies to fossil fuel companies; and impose carbon fees that are high enough to restrain the use of fossil fuels.”

A News Release and Urgent Call-Out  from the Alliance of World Scientists

Posted November 5^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Corvallis, Oregon – A global coalition of scientists led by William J. Ripple and Christopher Wolf of Oregon State University says “untold human suffering” is unavoidable without deep and lasting shifts in human activities that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and other factors related to climate change.

“Despite 40 years of major global negotiations, we have continued to conduct business as usual and have failed to address this crisis,” said Ripple, distinguished professor of ecology in the OSU College of Forestry.

“Climate change has arrived and is accelerating faster than many scientists expected.”

In a paper published today in BioScience, the authors, along with more than 11,000 scientist signatories from 153 countries, declare a climate emergency, present graphics showing trends as vital signs against which to measure progress, and provide a set of effective mitigating actions. Continue reading →

Greta Thunberg, right, gives Trump a telling look as he walks through the United Nations corridors to spend a token few minutes at a global climate summit this past September

“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.”

“The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us I say we will never forgive you. We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line.”                – 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg at a United Nations Climate Summit this past summer

News from the Sierra Club in the United States

Posted November 5^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

This past Monday, November 4th, the Trump administration notified the United Nations that it is quitting the Paris Agreement.

This shameful act of presidential negligence means that the U.S. will be the only country in the world that is not participating in this landmark international climate agreement.

This is not only a stunning abdication of global leadership; it threatens to devastate ecosystems and unleash unprecedented suffering on generations of vulnerable people, both here and abroad.

We’re not taking this lying down. We will work even harder with our allies in Congress and at the state and local level to hold this administration accountable and keep our country moving forward. Continue reading →

City of Peterborough is one of most recent municipalities to pass Ontario Health Coalition’s Council Resolution against the cuts

A Call-Out from the Ontario Health Coalition, a public advocacy group for quality public health care

Posted November 5th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

Late this October, the City of Peterborough joined Toronto, Lambton County, Kingsville, and others to pass a municipal council resolution from the Ontario Health Coalition calling on the Ford government to stop its cuts/plans to eliminate local public health, ambulance/paramedic, hospital and long-term care services.

Thank you to the Peterborough Health Coalition!

The resolution began its journey across Ontario in Lambton County where it was introduced by Sarnia’s Mayor Mike Bradley. Continue reading →

For NAL’s Niagara, Ontario and Buffalo, New York area readers, here is a bit of what is happening on the climate action front on the American side of our shared border

A Call-Out from the Western New York Youth Climate Council 

Posted November 5^th, 2019 on Niagara At Large

At an Earth Day march in Buffalo, New York, April 2017. File photo by Doug Draper

Buffalo, New York – Before we talk action, what is a Climate Emergency Declaration?  

Very basically, it is a resolution which makes it clear that the government that passes it is open to taking climate change for the life threatening crisis it is.

Once we have our foot in the door, we can push for further actions based on the promises that they make in the passage of the resolution, and beyond. SO, in September we approached the Erie County legislature with a petition to have the County declare a Climate Emergency.

So far, we haven’t heard back. But that’s no reason to stop! 

Now, we’re asking for your help to demand Buffalo Common Council declare an emergency as well.

We went to the Legislature with 577 all youth signatures, but this time we want even more, to show just how much Western New York supports a climate emergency. 

You can sign below or get signatures on paper!

Continue reading →