Niagara residents and frontline workers are raising the red flag on the Doug Ford government’s proposed legislative changes over water governance. They fear multiple omnibus bills have little to do with cutting costs and are more about centralizing power.
With the highest water and wastewater bills in the province, a majority of Niagara residents worry Ontario’s water systems shaped by Bill 60 and 98 could further destabilize their own financial future.
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This Earth Day was different in Ontario. For the first time in close to two decades, the Province did not have a climate plan, even as Ontarians stare down a summer that’s set to be the hottest on record.
On April 22 and 23, a coalition of healthcare, environmental and social justice experts gathered at Queen’s Park calling on the Ford government to bring back a credible provincial climate plan that can create a livable future.
Six months in jail.
That’s what Carly Young, the former owner of Dakota is facing after she was found guilty in provincial offenses court after the young German shepherd’s death.
Dakota was found collapsed and seizing on the side of a Niagara Falls road in July 2024 with her mouth clamped shut. Young admitted during the trial the muzzle was placed on Dakota to keep her from barking—experts testified that was exactly what killed her.
Councillor Haley Bateman is seeking Niagara Regional Council’s support for a motion that attempts to solve the fiscal imbalance facing the Region and Niagara municipalities. Previous attempts by municipal organizations such as AMO and FCM have gone nowhere.
She says this time it will be different.
Many residents left a recent town hall meeting in St. Catharines feeling frustrated.
In addition to the lack of action by their elected officials to fix the contaminated blight in the centre of their community, Mayor Mat Siscoe is clearly trying to mislead the public about what is being done on the polluted site.
The number of online sexual offences against children in 2024 was almost three times higher than 2018 and 182 percent higher than 2014, according to new data from Statistics Canada.
Niagara Police has recorded similar disturbing increases in these crimes, leading the force to expand its investigative capacity to catch those responsible.
As Prime Minister Mark Carney casts nature as central to Canada’s identity, and its economy, Ottawa’s latest nature strategy revealed a deeper tension: whether conservation can be both a moral duty and an economic opportunity.
While many environmental experts are cautiously optimistic about its scale and intent, one Indigenous scholar warns the approach risks reducing ecosystems to economic assets.
After repeated delays, the trial for the Niagara Falls woman accused in the death of Dakota, her German shepherd who was suffocated by a tight muzzle, is set to wrap up on April 27.
The provincial offences trial is the first step in the “justice for Dakota” that advocates have been demanding. A criminal investigation by Niagara Police is ongoing.
A “Safe Schools” presentation from Peel Police to Catholic educators that included blatantly racist imagery and language, including repeated use of the n-word, has become a disturbing reminder for many advocates of how entrenched anti-Black racism still is within Peel’s powerful institutions.
While Peel’s Catholic school board and police leadership apologized for the harm the presentation caused, the PC government intervened and walked-back the apology, doubling down on the racist stereotypes that were perpetuated.
A haunting visual and emotional reckoning—3,000 dead birds laid bare—served as a wakeup call for change as part of FLAP Canada’s annual exhibit, ‘Birds Without Borders’ on April 11.
For the first time in close to two decades, migratory birds travelling back to Ontario to enjoy spring won’t have policy protections — a stark turn away from decades of bird-safe building progress. The PCs’ latest housing legislation, Bill 98, if passed, is about to make matters worse.
After a two-day trial, Niagara Falls Councillor Mike Strange has been found not guilty of assaulting his former common-law partner after a night of drinking in May of last year.
While the judge did not dispute the complainant’s version of events, he ruled the Crown failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Strange was responsible for her injuries.
Peel’s provincial elected officials have refused to answer questions about the PC government’s controversial proposal to shield them from access to information rules.
The freedom of information system is a critical tool for the public and media to hold the government to account. The proposed changes are being labelled as further democratic backsliding under Doug Ford’s leadership.
The proposed legislation is being criticized as undemocratic.
Handpicked Regional Chairs with “strong chair powers” described as puppets doing the bidding of Doug Ford’s PCs, leaves current councillors and citizens wondering if there’s even any point in municipal government across many parts of Ontario.
Niagara Falls Councillor Mike Strange will stand trial tomorrow, April 14, on a charge of intimate partner violence.
The case has become a flashpoint. It has sparked debate on how local councils handle elected officials facing serious criminal charges and the shortcomings of the PCs’ municipal accountability legislation, Bill 9.
After reporting from The Pointer showed St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe appeared to violate provincial law by pushing through a single-sourced contract, Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch heard a number of concerns from his constituents.
He reached out to the Queen’s Park research branch for answers. The response received also concludes that Siscoe overstepped the powers given to him by the controversial PC legislation.
A coalition of environmental and public interest groups is taking the Doug Ford government to court, challenging the constitutional validity of the Special Economic Zones Act introduced as part of its contentious Bill 5.
While the PCs claim the regulations are necessary to speed up projects that will benefit Ontario’s long-term economic growth, legal experts argue it creates “lawless zones” where legal rights, protections and accountabilities can be overridden at the discretion of Cabinet, to the benefit of Ford’s inner circle.
Despite being in the middle of the city, and drawing widespread attention for a decade, City of St. Catharines leaders have failed to properly address the toxic 55-acre former GM property on Ontario Street.
Buildings that are decades old continue to crumble. Open pits remain exposed to anyone who enters the easily accessible property. And questions about widespread contamination that City officials fought to keep hidden from the public remain unanswered. As this year’s fall municipal election approaches residents are vowing to make the controversial former industrial lands right next to downtown a key issue for candidates.
On March 26, grandmothers and grandfathers gathered outside Queen’s Park pleading with the Doug Ford PC government to not bulldoze their children’s and grandchildren’s future.
Instead, leaning on global uncertainty to justify its spending, the government unveiled the 2026 budget: ‘A Plan to Protect Ontario’ which dismisses climate change and prioritizes highways, while offering little to struggling families.
It’s been two years since the Ontario Science Centre closed. While the Doug Ford government recently awarded a contract to a builders’ group for a new location at Ontario Place, local grassroots groups are fighting to preserve the landmark building.
As Ontarians navigate the political games, one astronomer has been on a mission to bring the planetarium experience to young kids, to inspire Canadians as the Artemis II mission and astronaut Jeremy Hansen capture the national imagination.
On March 24, as Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki made a wish on his birthday, he chose the Region of Peel, a community that has been hit with two 100-year-storms in recent years and continues to be in the chokehold of climate instability, to reflect on his decades of advocacy and the work that still lies ahead.
In a sit-down with The Pointer, he spoke candidly about his refusal to give up and why bringing love and unity back to communities might be the answer to the anxiety so many feel.
Doug Ford’s approval rating has dropped into net-negative territory, mirroring the housing starts in Ontario that are near historic lows. That has only pushed his PC government to fast-track more legislation that guts environmental protections in the name of affordable housing.
With Bill 60, Queen’s Park has expanded the private sector’s stake in water and wastewater services, with little clarity on the implications — leaving the Region of Peel struggling for answers as it transitions to an untested model for water management that more than 1.8 million residents rely on.
Two years ago, a 23.3 percent hike to the Peel Police budget sparked backlash. The Chief, Police Board Chair Nando Iannicca and Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown who sits on the Board, claimed the extra $144 million, and the doubling of the overall budget in just six years, was to ensure the public is kept safe. Duraiappah now makes more than anyone else in policing in Canada, including the RCMP.
Last week’s disclosure of public sector salaries across Ontario revealed the skyrocketing tax dollars being sent to Peel’s police are largely to fund lavish salary increases that are way out of step with other police services and public sectors generally. Taxpayers are asking how the Chief, Mayor Brown and Iannicca can justify taking so much money from struggling residents, to hand out double-digit pay increases for police.
Under the pall of wildfire smoke, extreme weather events and rising global temperatures, the resulting planetary shock to the Earth has left many trying to cope with the emotional and psychological effects of the damage being done by humans.
For Caledon artist Andie Trépanier, the relentless encroachment of developers across the rapidly rendering rural community meant sleepless nights, an unforgettable nightmare and, ultimately, turning to a paintbrush.
The stunning revelations of Project South and the disturbing findings of a report exposing more than 1,000 Charter violations by Ontario’s biggest police agencies have sparked public outrage and scrutiny of the law enforcement culture in this province.
What needs to be done to ensure residents are protected by police forces that can’t address their own systemic failures?
On March 24, the Township of South Stormont announced David Barrick was no longer the municipality’s CAO, after starting in January.
Two weeks ago, a reporter from The Pointer was blocked by OPP officers from entering the town hall to cover Barrick’s work.
A contract handed to a consultant without a bidding process to study the Ontario Street Corridor in St. Catharines, pushed by Mayor Mat Siscoe, who used his strong mayor powers, appears to violate the City’s procurement rules.
Emerging legal opinions also suggest the mayor could be overextending his use of strong mayor powers beyond what the law allows.
As the Iran war sends oil prices soaring and global markets scrambling, Ottawa sits at a high-stakes crossroads. Investors are eyeing alternatives like wind, solar and batteries, but many are also turning to Canada as a safe oil bet.
Will Canada join other countries that are tired of being held hostage to geopolitical shocks from dependence on fossil fuels?
March 22 is World Water Day. The Ontario Headwaters Institute is calling on Premier Doug Ford's PC government to start implementing policies that prioritize the protection of our most vital resource.
The Firearm Safety Education Service of Ontario (FSESO), the group solely responsible for training those looking to get a legal gun licence in Ontario, has been accused of putting business interests ahead of public safety.
The organization is facing allegations of conflict of interest, nepotism and questionable spending by whistleblowers who contacted The Pointer.
Residents of St. Catharines are asking who is behind the delays on the former General Motors property right next to downtown.
While the City has provided limited information and provincial ministries stall, residents want to know who exactly owns the property.
Municipal accountability systems are failing, leaving taxpayers more vulnerable to abuse than ever before. People like David Barrick, the former Brampton CAO, are a byproduct of a badly broken municipal governance system.
He has left a trail of scandal at each municipality where he has worked as the CAO, but keeps getting hired. When The Pointer tried to report on his latest hiring, reporter Ed Smith was blocked from entering a public town hall building by OPP officers who said if he returns, a trespass notice will be issued.
The facts uncovered since Dakota, a young German shepherd, died on a Niagara Falls sidewalk in July 2024 have left many asking why the Niagara Police never laid criminal animal cruelty charges—or even investigated the disturbing death.
Nearly two years after the dog’s death, and constant requests from animal rights advocates, the Niagara Police announced last week a criminal investigation is now underway.
For many families in Peel, some sustainability is woven into their routines, but the daily struggle to put food on the table and a roof over their heads often overshadows environmental concerns. One Brampton-based non-profit has been trying to change the narrative by giving residents, including newcomers, the information they need to navigate these challenging times.
Salt may keep roads clear in harsh winters but once it washes off, it becomes a triple threat: harming trees, fish and wildlife, polluting drinking water and damaging crops. Overuse of road salt in Ontario due to fears of liability is catalyzing that destruction. Two Peel municipalities are trying to come up with a plan to tackle high levels of chloride — it relies on a native plant that could be the answer to the salt problem.
Less than three months after being appointed by the Doug Ford PC government, Bob Gale has resigned as regional chair.
The news comes after allegations were made public Wednesday that he owns a copy of Adolf Hitler’s virulently racist, antisemitic Mein Kampf, and weeks after he ignited a firestorm of controversy, calling for the amalgamation of Niagara Region (which Ford has been pushing for years), without consulting elected officials.
The Doug Ford PC government has taken another step in the dismantling of Ontario’s critical conservation authority system.
The vital function these agencies have played for decades is being systematically co-opted: instead of safeguarding ecosystems, and helping ensure municipalities remain protected from the consequences of a rapidly changing climate, Ford is centralizing control over conservation authorities to make it easier for developers to push their projects through.
Canada’s battle against plastic pollution reached a pivotal moment with the Federal Court of Appeal upholding the listing of plastic-manufactured items as “toxic”, keeping single-use plastic bans in place despite years of lobbying from the oil and petrochemical industry.
As global plastics treaty negotiations crawl along, one Toronto-born “artivist” is reminding Ottawa: it’s time we turn off the tap on plastic pollution.
A coalition of Sikh organizations from across Canada has written a letter to Canadian MPs from the Liberal and Conservative parties, demanding accountability on Indian foreign interference and firm commitments to hold India accountable for its criminal actions in Canada targeting the country’s Sikh community.
St. Catharines councillors have ordered staff to work with the owner of the GM site to remove the catwalk structure over Ontario Street before the end of the year. While it's uncertain what will happen if the property owner refuses, the decision marks the first concrete step to clean up the crumbling site in years.
It was made following lengthy debate and questionable statements from councillors and Mayor Mat Siscoe.
The RCMP confirmed to The Pointer late Monday afternoon that ongoing investigations are being conducted into criminal cases in Canada that are tied to the activities of the Indian government.
A spokesperson for the Mounties said that no details could be provided “until charges have been laid and it is a matter of public record.”
In Ontario, the story of the Great Lakes is being told in two ways: by the quiet persistence of a Grand Bend woman filling bags with plastic to save Lake Huron; and by scientists in a new report mapping warming waters, shifting ice and stressed ecosystems across the basin. Together, they offer the same warning: our waters and the ecosystems in and around them are paying the price of climate change and human behaviour.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has begun his visit to India, an effort to mend fractured diplomatic relations and re-engage with an emerging economic superpower that is home to the largest consumer market in the world. From energy and uranium to wheat and lentils, the country’s more than 1.4 billion residents represent a huge opportunity for Canada, as Carney attempts to make good on his “middle power” mission to diversify trade away from the U.S..
Standing in his way is the deeply disturbing behaviour of New Delhi, and evidence of government-sponsored violence launched against the large Sikh-Canadian community. Carney has been asked to explain claims made right before his departure, by an unnamed government source in Ottawa, that India’s transnational repression on Canadian soil has stopped. Experts, Liberal MPs and activists say the claim is a myth, and they want Carney to come clean.
On February 19th, recently appointed Regional Chair Bob Gale, without the support of his previous Council colleagues, decided that it is time for major structural governance changes in Niagara and that decisions need to be made locally by March 3rd.
A possible shift to just four cities across all of what is currently Niagara Region, or even creating just one giant geographic city, is apparently on the table, according to communication with the provincial government. Residents, meanwhile, are being shut out from a process that could profoundly change their lives.
A Welland courtroom recently heard that the death of Dakota, a German Shepherd, was the result of a muzzle cinched so tight around her mouth that she was barely able to breathe and unable to cool herself off, triggering a fatal heat stroke.
Her owner, Carly Young, faces four provincial offence charges. The courtroom antics of Young and her husband Chris led to the final hearing being delayed until March 2.
Nikhil Gupta pleaded guilty in a United States District Court to conspiring in a 2023 murder-for-hire plot that targeted Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual American-Canadian citizen and leader of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) based in New York. Gupta, who allegedly worked at the direction of an Indian government employee, is scheduled to be sentenced in May.
In a case that is directly linked, The World Sikh Organization is condemning the Canadian government following reports that it wants to withhold sensitive evidence in the upcoming trial of four men charged in the murder of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, to protect “international relations”.
The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual event that encourages people around the world to stop and observe the nature that surrounds them.
The data collected is used to preserve avian life. The Pointer sent two photographers to document the count across the GTA.
Following a visual inspection, engineers in St. Catharines said the 25-year-old metal catwalk spanning Ontario Street is in “good condition” and poses no danger to the commuters who pass beneath it on a daily basis.
The inspection has not alleviated the concerns of residents who see the aging structure as a symbol of council’s lack of action to clean up the contaminated site.
“Canada is an auto nation.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney made the declaration as he shared his government’s new plan for an automotive future that is “electric”. Ottawa’s strategy brings back rebates for electric vehicles and creates tougher emissions standards.
But with renewed trade tensions, regulatory uncertainty and the repeal of the EV sales mandate for manufacturers, experts and environmentalists say the road to a truly green transportation landscape will be bumpy.
Premier Doug Ford, you’ve got mail.
One dedicated environmental advocate from Guelph has been flooding his mailbox ever since his government rammed Bill 5 through Queen’s Park.
Sarah Christie has written the Premier over 700 postcards on behalf of endangered species and with growing attention to her efforts, she doesn’t plan on stopping until the environmentally destructive law is repealed.
Residents of Niagara Falls trying to complain about the questionable behaviour of their local elected officials will now be forced to come up with $1,000 to do so.
On Tuesday, Councillor Vince Kerrio admitted that doubling the fee was an intentional effort to block complaints against councillors ahead of the October municipal election.
The executive director of a major construction industry advocacy group in Ontario offers her views about the future of the province’s transportation infrastructure. A combination of smart public transit where it will work best, and roadways where they are needed, is the proper approach for an area as vast as Ontario, she writes.
