By Pepper Parr
September 12th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
Mayor Meed Ward mentioned last night at the Budget meeting that consideration was being given to doing a ward boundary review – which would amount to changing the size of each ward. She added that thought was being given to adding some wards to allow for better representation given the size of the population growth the city is going to experience,
Denise Davey. Photo from Gazette photo bank
To put that growth into perspective the Mayor pointed out that one development in the works will have residents equal to the size of the City of Stratford, Ontario. Denise Davey, an east end resident shuddered at what that was going to do to traffic which is close to grid lock at too many locations during rush hours.
There are residents in the western side of ward 2 who think they will be better served if they were part of ward 1.
Ward 2 is the ward with the biggest population and at this point the ward with the most development.
Six wards with each ward having a single Council member supported by an Administrative assistant.
The plans for a six tower development on Fairview west of Guelph line will make ward 2 even bigger – clearly some changes have to be made.
That creates a problem. Burlington is part of a two tier form of government. The city is part of the Region of Halton where there are 21 Regional Councillors of which 7 are from Burlington.
Were the city to add council members – some of them would not get seats on the Regional Council – which pays half of their $100,000 + annual salary.
The work being done at a Queen’s Park Legislative Committee that is looking into the role Regional governments has to be considered. Some are suggesting in the case of Halton – the Regional government may be at the point where it is no longer needed.
Burlington’s Planning department which had to comply with Regional rules no longer has to do that.
Transit which is a municipal responsibility would better serve the public if the four transit authorities were merged into a single service.
Waste collection and the operation of the water service could – (should) be hived off into a separate operation that would be a stand-alone with representation from the municipalities that are served and significant provincial financial support.
Social services is a Regional operation – it works reasonably well – however it is difficult to be close to the social needs of a community when the relationship is managed by a bureaucracy nowhere near the people who need support.
There is a lot of thinking to be done – and it won’t get done in the near future: however, they are at least thinking about it. The public concern will be – are we going to get better service and how much is it going to cost us?
One can just imagine how a New Democratic government would tackle a problem like this. Liberal and Conservative governments have in the past done decent jobs. Given the shape the Liberal party in Ontario is – one would not want to bet on their returning to office in the near future.
Which leaves it up the the current Progressive Conservative government.
Where are John Robarts and Bill Davis when you really need them?
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
Robards and Davis?What we really need is a Mike Harris wh could get things done quickly.
Editor’s note: Would you care to comment on what Mike Harris did to the educational sector?
Yes we really need another Walkerton.
Bob Rae left Harris $63.4 billion in debt. Harris goes down in history as the guy who cut costs.
7 people died at Walkerton. Common sense isn’t common.
What problem? Oakville works with two councillors for each ward.
One represents at both City and Region. The other only represents the ward.
I would rather see some at large councillors who handle represent all the city so that there is someone to go to if you disagree with your Ward Councillor.
Yes, I remember Leslie Frost, John Robarts and Bill Davis and grew up, bought my first house in Burlington and thrived while they were giving us their version of conservatism with a progressive edge. Ontario thrived and there seemed to be a sense of practical reasoning to their decisions in contrast to the ideological sometimes devastating time under the next two premiers. Let’s hope that any future change follows the Robarts and Davis pattern.
I wonder if this is still the plan now that the immigration policy has been changed and the high density condo market is significantly stalled. The market will need to work through its indigestion before new construction begins.
Unfortunately, our City has many vacant properties (some for years) like the former Elizabeth Interiors location on Brant, the Holland Park property on Fairview and the businesses that have moved from Oval Court leaving decaying buildings behind. What a sight!