This is Corey Larocque's article in today's Niagara Falls Review:
http://shrinkster.com/pac
Local News - They're in the home stretch and it's neck and neck and neck: Sleeping Giant and Bay of Fundy are ahead by a nose, with Niagara Falls and the Northern Lights trailing close behind.
With three days left to vote in CBC's Seven Wonders of Canada, the contest appears headed for a photo finish. But the Honeymoon Capital is pulling out all the stops to turn the race into a last-minute blow-out instead of a nail-biter.
"Right now we're in third," said Coun. Jim Diodati. "We need to get our stuff together and win it."
Recent results as of late last night appear to have Thunder Bay's Sleeping Giant, Nova Scotia's Bay of Fundy and Niagara Falls all with eight per cent each of all the votes cast, though the falls is still third among those places.
"Isn't this fun?" said Thunder Bay's Mayor Lynn Peterson, calling the Sleeping Giant rock formation "a magnificent view" people in her town see every morning.
"The whole town knows and we're incredibly proud," Peterson said.
In this kind of contest, it seems everyone backs their hometown favourite. While Thunder Bay might be riding high now, Diodati hopes Niagara Falls' third-place standing has awakened the sleeping giant in Niagara. Local residents and the millions of people who come to see the falls need to rally now to ensure the mighty cataract takes its rightful place, he said.
"In a way, it's more exciting to be the more come-from-behind, Cinderella story," said Diodati, who's urging residents, teachers, families - heck, anyone with a computer - to log on and make their vote count.
Everywhere you turn, including The Review's website (www.niagarafallsreview.ca), someone is reminding you to vote often, even if you haven't voted early.
Don Nesbitt, the information technology manager of the Sheraton Fallsview hotel, added a link to the company's live webcam view of the Horseshoe Falls.
It gets more than 20,000 visitors a day from around the world. If they're interested in seeing the falls, they're probably sympathetic to voting for it as a wonder, Nesbitt said.
"It is the most unbelievable natural wonder in the world. I can't believe we're not in first place," he said.
There's no limit to the number of times you can vote, said Diodati, who voted twice while doing the phone interview for this story.
The rules make it possible for some "click-happy" people to sway the results by voting over and over again.
But since those are the rules, he said, "it's time to fight fire with fire."
"This is an unofficial poll. It's obviously statistically insignificant," he said. Regardless, Niagara Falls still needs to rise to the top, Diodati said.
"It will reinforce we are the No. 1 wonder and destination in the country."
Since the contest started at the end of April, thousands of northern Ontarians have rallied around that area's Sleeping Giant rock formation, pushing it to the top of the chart as far as online voting is concerned.
Sleeping Giant is officially known as Sibley Peninsula, a rock formation that looks like a sleeping person. Ojibway legend says the person turned to stone after revealing the location of a silver mine to Europeans, according to the CBC.
"We are a proud community that often suffers from a 'little brother' complex with our southern Ontario cousins due to our remoteness and many misunderstandings regarding our area of the province and the country for that matter," said Larry Deswiage, a restaurant manager born and raised in Thunder Bay, who was one of the first people to nominate Sleeping Giant.
If Sleeping Giant wins, it will generate publicity for Thunder Bay and will be good for the area's tourism industry, Deswiage said.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Sleeping Giant is leading a distinguished pack that includes the Rocky Mountains, Old Quebec City and the Cabot Trail. Other Canadian icons, such as the Stanley Cup, Montreal bagels, the canoe and igloo, prove the list isn't just about geography.
People are taking it seriously. The final list should reflect a true sense of what Canada is about, said Ginger Blythin, a Niagara Falls woman who is making the case for Niagara Falls on the Internet.
"I want the things in that list to be the things that would inspire people about Canada," she said.
The contest is good for communities to boost their sense of pride, said Ontario tourism minister Jim Bradley. The province is well represented with eight of 52 nominees.
"It refocuses interest in a lot of these areas," Bradley said.
People are often "bombarded" with advertising messages, but testimonials from people about what they find wonderful adds a lot of credibility, he said.
"A site in Ontario is one I would like to see as the final champion," said Bradley, though he vowed to be "publicly neutral" during the contest. He did acknowledge a "bias" but refused to reveal it. He hails from St. Catharines, about 20 minutes from Niagara Falls.
At Niagara Falls City Hall, strategic and corporate initiatives manager Dale Morton said there's now a "campaign" underway to get the vote out before Friday's deadline. Organizing it has been challenging, given that information about CBC's deadlines and the judging process has changed.
"I think we've done well with the time we've had. It could get really expensive. But we've done a kind of grassroots thing," she said.
City hall prepared a flyer that was handed out to elementary and high school students Tuesday to take home.
"Niagara Falls needs your vote!" it implores. "If you agree that Niagara Falls is Canada's most 'beautiful' and 'wonder-ful' site, please do not hesitate, and cast your vote today."
By 10 p.m., Tuesday, there were close to 42,448 votes for Sleeping Giant, 40,877 for the Bay of Fundy and approximately 38,860 for Niagara Falls.
Last week, CBC's website provided a running total of the results after each computer user voted. But that seemed to stop Tuesday morning. In fact, numerous voters said they couldn't vote over the weekend.
On Tuesday, CBC's site said there could be "delays" in voting caused by "overwhelming interest in the Seven Wonders of Canada." By lunch, it appeared to be accepting votes again and releasing standings by the end of the day.
Word of mouth and e-mail chains will be part of the Niagara Falls strategy over the next few days.
On the relatively new Internet phenomenon Facebook, a group called "Vote for Niagara Falls" was created by Becky Puddicombe, the Westlane Secondary School student who became Niagara's unofficial ambassador almost a month ago. When CBC launched Seven Wonders of Canada, Puddicombe's teacher picked her to give a two-minute pitch on the radio as to why Niagara Falls deserves the title.
The Vote for Niagara Falls group had 163 members Tuesday.
Thunder Bay was no slouch in using the Internet to mobilize the vote. "Help us Vote 4 Sleeping Giant as 1 of the 7 Wonders of Canada," a Facebook group, has 2,300 members. Another site, "Sleeping Giant is one of Canada's natural wonders" has 713 members on Facebook.
Thunder Bay's chief administrative officer, Robert Petrie, posted a message calling the contest "a great avenue to promote and share the city's wonderful, natural beauty across the country."
Some other Sleeping Giant advocates weren't as diplomatic.
"You visit the falls, you will be impressed with how big it is, for about 30 minutes. Then you will go to the casino, because the falls are just not that interesting. When visiting the giant, you will marvel at its beauty constantly," wrote Hamilton's Andrew Bryan.
