“Niagara-on-the-Lake needs elected leaders who oppose provincial top-down amalgamation schemes designed to erode local decision-making authority, increase property taxes, and compromise services,” writes Wayne Gates.
“The town has the right rules. They work only if the people bound by them follow them, and if council insists that they do. Ask the candidates seeking your vote whether they will,” writes Kathryn Podrebarac.
“The more convinced a state becomes that it can compel outcomes, the more likely it is to underestimate the will of others. It forgets that those on the receiving end have agency too,” writes Keith McNenly.
“Earlier Ontarians understood that public ownership, pastoral landscapes, gardens, historical preservation and architecturally serious infrastructure could be forms of economic development,” writes Keith McNenly.
“Democracy depends on vigilance. History is self-defence: a continuing warning from generations past,” writes Keith McNenly.
“Niagara-on-the-Lake should not be treated as an extension of a ‘Vegas North’ casino economy. We are not a desert entertainment strip,” writes Keith McNenly.
“We have to be clear with every level of government — arts and culture are important and they need government support to thrive. Arts, culture and heritage bring people to Niagara-on-the-Lake, but that doesn’t happen by accident,” writes Wayne Gates.
John Scott shares how his wife, Michelle Scott, helped dozens of Americans who were in Canada the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, find their way across the border and home safely after all flights were grounded and airspaces closed.
“We have seen the lack of courage in the U.S. Congress and Senate to control the administration so many times it hurts. So, it falls to Canada to check Trump’s bizarre behaviour towards what used to be their closest friend and ally,” writes J. Richard Wright.
“By refusing to cave to a coercive regime, Canada provides a vital external anchor, just across the shared border, for American citizens who find themselves trapped under a dictatorial minority rule,” writes Keith McNenly.
“Many Niagara-on-the-Lake residents may be unaware that this year’s municipal election could fundamentally change how decisions are made in their community,” writes the NOTL Residents Association.
A bad deal to open the Gordie Howe International Bridge, connecting Canada to the U.S., “is not in Canada’s national interests, but we cannot simply walk away from this structure,” writes Keith McNenly.
“If Congress fails to act when danger is plain, then the constitutional balance the founders designed is reduced to words on paper,” writes Keith McNenly.
“Without hard boundaries including progressive taxation and dissolution of monopolies, oligarchy will continue to deconstruct society until elections, law, and truth become historical artifacts,” writes Keith McNenly.
“Canadians have the right to access diverse ideas, literature and viewpoints without censorship, allowing libraries, schools, bookstores and readers to explore both popular and controversial works,” write Susan Elliott and Dr. Robin Williams Foster.
“Boasts aside, the authoritarian holds only a single card — the joker’s trick of chaos and distraction. The real deck is large. Americans hold roughly 340 million cards,” writes Keith McNenly.
“Easing congestion wasn’t council’s main rationale for leaning toward a garage at 176 Wellington — money is. Council members either believe or were led to believe that parking will bring in piles of it,” writes David Israelson.
“Authoritarian forces are aligning across borders, and the free world again needs coherent leadership. Canada’s message, in that context, has been clarity of purpose,” writes Keith McNenly.
“The Ford government is spending millions upon millions on private planes, private spas and handouts to developers, while our public services crumble and life gets increasingly unaffordable for families in Ontario,” writes Wayne Gates.
“There are important moments when a community must decide not only what to build, but how — and with whom. Niagara-on-the-Lake is in one of those moments,” writes Susan St Amand.
“The most dangerous species on Earth was not conquered. It was befriended, one household at a time, by a creature sometimes small enough to fit in your arms and wise enough to require your best self,” writes Keith McNenly.
“Fort Mississauga stands as a tower of strength on Lake Ontario. Built just after the War of 1812, this unique site reflects 150 years of British and Canadian military activity,” writes Tony Chisholm.
“It all really boils down to one thing: if you’re a voter in Niagara-on-the-Lake, the province wants to hear less than ever from you about decisions that affect your town,” writes David Israelson.
“Democracy can be messy. It can take time. But that process is exactly what ensures decisions reflect the people they impact,” writes Wayne Gates.
“Taken together, Putin and Trump can be seen as pursuing compatible projects in different hemispheres,” writes Keith McNenly, citing the consolidation of influence through coercion, leverage and military aggression; treating sovereignty as negotiable and more.
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