Roses and Thorns: The Leafs, a saviour dog and the Region

ROSE: To the Toronto Maple Leafs for their decision to hold the first weekend of their 2018 training camp in Niagara Falls. The camp was centred at Gale Centre over three days last weekend, bringing a taste of NHL hockey to the peninsula, including a fun-filled Leafs alumni game on Saturday night that featured the likes of former NHL greats Doug Gilmour, Darcy Tucker, Rick Vaive and others. This was the third straight year the Toronto NHL franchise has made a splashy appearance in the Falls — last year the training camp also opened in Niagara and the year before the team’s rookie camp was held there over the summer. For the Leafs, it seems like a shrewd move to try and cultivate fan support in Niagara, which also has a strong contingent of Buffalo Sabres supporters. But for Niagara itself, the large turnout of hockey fans over the weekend created a powerful local payoff — all proceeds of voluntary admission at Gale Centre were given to Niagara Children’s Centre.

THORN: To Pelham regional Coun. Brian Baty, who accused The Standard of trying to “discredit” Niagara Peninsula Conservation Foundation in a report about the foundation’s finances. Baty made the accusation in an email to fellow regional councillors on Friday after The Standard reported on how much the foundation spends on charitable events, information available in public reports issued by the Canada Revenue Agency. CRA guidelines say 35 per cent or less of a charitable organization’s expenditures should be consumed by fundraising events — NPCF has exceeded guidelines in each of the past five years, according to the CRA reports, including in 2017 when 88 per cent of its expenditures went to fundraising events. It’s a classic case of trying to shoot the messenger.

ROSE: To Tucker, the six-year-old shepherd cross who helped save the lives of his Niagara-on-the-Lake family early Sunday. In the early hours, Tucker awakened his owner Rachel Spiewak with a round of frantic barking. Spiewak, not realizing what was going on, scolded the dog then tried to get back to sleep. But Tucker was undaunted. At about 1;30 a.m., he jumped on the bed and started scratching and barking. Boyfriend Jason Chafe got up to investigate and discovered the house was on fire. Spiewak has no doubt that without Tucker’s intervention, she, Chafe and the two children who were home at the time would not have escaped. THORN: To Niagara Regional Chair Alan Caslin, for again exceeding the limits of his authority and undermining his council. On Thursday, regional council learned Caslin had not fulfilled a council motion that Niagara hire an external lawyer to review the contract and its extension of CAO Carmen D’Angelo. Council’s instructions were that the external lawyer have no connections to either Caslin or D’Angelo, since Caslin had unilaterally extended D’Angelo’s deal. Councillors made the request for external counsel at the August meeting and expected someone to be there last Thursday. When St. Catharines Coun. Brian Heit asked why no lawyer was present, Caslin told him the issue had been deferred because the Ontario Ombudsman is investigating D’Angelo’s hiring and contract and the issue wouldn’t be revisited by council until after the Ombudsman had released his report. Heit pushed back, noting council had asked for information about the terms of the contract. Niagara Region’s legal director Donna Gibb said an external lawyer could be present at the Oct. 4 council meeting, after indicating the instructions hadn’t been fulfilled because they came with no time frame. But Caslin’s intervention on the selection of a lawyer raises questions of propriety, considering his involvement in the contract extension. Neither he nor D’Angelo should be involved in the selection of outside legal counsel on this issue.