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bilko@rgcmail.com Vol.20 No.53
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
FREE
Tensions flare as NPCA refuses provincial offer Hastily called board meeting greeted with skepticism
Column Six Going Dutch Netherlands offers bicycle tourists vistas and variety
BY NATE SMELLE
The VOICE
A faction of some 50 concerned citizens gathered outside Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) headquarters in Welland last Wednesday to draw attention to the board’s decision not to accept the Ontario Auditor General’s offer to conduct an independent review of the conservation authority. When the special board meeting began at 10 AM, the demonstrators moved inside to listen to the NPCA’s rationale for not accepting the help from the Province they were apparently seeking. Held in a small room in the See NPCA Page 10
RE/MAX®
GARDEN CITY REALTY INC., BROKERAGE
BY JOHN SWART
VOICE Correspondent
A
what our concerns are, so it’s very important for us to have someone who understand those concerns.” He cited housing affordability and increased provincial debt as issues he would like to see Oosterhoof take on. “The Liberal party has been very happy to go into debt,” he said. “Our generation understands that that’s not a good investment for us, and that we will be the ones who actually have to pay that off.” Quirk, on the other hand, focused on his experience both as a business owner, and as a politician, having served the public as a municipal councillor in Grimsby, and currently as a Regional Councillor in Niagara.
BLISTERING 7.85 kilometers per hour average cycling speed through the Netherlands, barely faster than jogging, yielded our most enjoyable cycle touring holiday ever. How fast can you go with a dozen farm-fresh, longstemmed lilies stuffed inside the back of your cycling jersey? Breakfast at the Heart of Zwaag B&B in Hoorn, in northwest Holland, had been so delicious that my wife and I felt obliged to thank the proprietor with flowers. Stopping to photograph a family of goats sunning on a shed roof can slow you down a bit, but being silently surrounded by 30 curious sheep while focusing really kills the average speed. When the path ends abruptly and you have to cable-winch a tiny manually-operated ferry across a canal to continue, even Chris Froome would lose time. Squinting to shoot a 350-year-old windmill in perfect contrast to seven, 120-metre-tall, 5-megawatt wind turbines in the background takes time too.
See WINNER back page
See DUTCH Page 14
HAPPY TEARS An emotional Ron Kore accepts his Kinsmen Citizen of the Year award. Page 9.
NATE SMELLE PHOTO
Once again, it's Oosterhoff by a mile BY ZACH JUNKIN
Special to The VOICE
It was a packed house at the West Lincoln Agricultural Centre Tuesday night a week ago as Progressive Conservative party members from across the newly formed Niagara West riding came out to elect MPP Sam Oosterhoff as their nominee for the 2018 provincial election. More than 800 party members cast their ballots in the contentious nomination race between Oosterhoff and his challenger, Regional Councillor Tony Quirk. The vote was nearly 2-to-1 in favour of Oosterhoff. The 19-year-old Oosterhoff, who won the party nomination and subsequent by-election for Niagara West-Glanbrook after Tim Hudak left the seat in 2016, ran a youthful campaign that derid-
Young MPP beats off internal challenge for nomination ed the Liberal government’s management of the province over the last 13 years. It was a message that resonated with the many younger voters on hand, who expressed their hope that a younger candidate will better relate to the issues they face. “I think it is important to have young voices in our government,” remarked a young man named Alex, who said he was down from Toronto to show support for Sam. “We have a lot of people in government who are not connected to our generation, and don’t understand our needs, and
DEBBIE PINE SALES REPRESENTATIVE
905.892.0222
NIAGARA / FONTHILL, ON
NIAGARA REAL ESTATE CENTER, Brokerage 1815 Merritville, Hwy 1 FONTHILL, ON
debbiepine@royallepage.ca SELL phone: 905-321-2261