Myles Rusak, Executive Director of the Sound Music seemed to be telling council that these huge events are no longer the attraction they used to be.
Myles D. Rusak had to wait hours before he got his ten minutes to tell city council meeting as a Standing Committee that he had wonderful news for them: From its humble beginnings in 1979 as a showcase for the Burlington Teen Tour Band to its current iteration as Canada’s Largest Free Music Festival; over the years this Festival has evolved in many new and exciting ways.
Rusak didn’t use the phrase Sound of Music – it would appear it is going to morph into the “Festival”.
Rusak was the last speaker during what had been a very full day – and it would run on into the evening. He got his ten minutes but there were no questions – council was making a hard stop – they wanted to go home for dinner.
These huge events don’t pay the bills. The SoM board wants to re-imagine the event.
Rusak explained that the Sound of Music is a registered Non-Profit Organization that has an obligation to you, our stakeholders, to share with you how we operate, where our funds come from and the overall impact of the Festival on the community.
Moving forward we aim to be a resource for emerging artists, and a year round showcase for local talent.
Under new management (there was no mention of how the SoM unceremoniously dumped the previous Executive Director) we aim to evolve yet again to increase our capacity for supporting Music and the Arts in our community.
Our vision is to not be defined exclusively as a “festival” – moving forward we aim to be a resource for emerging artists, a showcase for local talent and a valued community partner who wants to see Music and Performance in this community thrive in new and exciting ways.
Our commitment to you is a new level of transparency and accountability; an admission that they had not been all that transparent or accountable in the past?
It was at this point that Rusak advised council that he wasn’t in front of them asking for money – but that he would be back.
Rusak apparently didn’t realize that for the most part the 2020 budget has been drafted and except for some serious tweaking there aren’t likely to be any major changes – unless the Mayor decides to continue with her raids on reserve accounts.
But I digress.
If the numbers are what we think they are – the SoM doesn’t make any money on the ticketed events.
Rusak told council: “We know you work hard for your money and you deserve to know how it’s used when you buy a festival ticket, VIP upgrade, merchandise or beverage at the Festival. I do hope this report answers those important questions.”
He trotted out that phrase that covers all past sins – he was going to be “accountable and transparent”.
Rusak had some astounding news:
The Sound of Music pumps $12.7 million into the local economy.
These numbers don’t add up to the $12 million touted.
A quarter of a million people attended – the spending doesn’t appear to be in sync with that figure. The 34% that were non-local – does that mean Hamilton?
Every dollar invested in the Sound of Music returns $160
MORE here
Rusak also had a dour note. The festival market is changing he said and “we have to change or we die”.
And that’s when he explained that the event had to become more than a three day event. Sound of Music had already grown to a couple of additional days when ticketed events took place.
Sound of Music is talking to Cogeco about doing something with the community cable operation. An all year round program.
He talked about putting something together with the Performing Arts Centre. The folks over there have been trying to get the Sound of Music in their building for the past two years. PAC Executive Director Tammy Fox told the Gazette that she will get them in there at some point in the future.
Impressive numbers – what do they mean? No analysis was offered.
The Sound of Music Executive is currently working on a Strategic Plan that Rusak assured the Councillors would be made public. Sound of Music doesn’t have the best of reputations for telling people what they would like to know about the revenue and expense side of their operation.
They tend to tell people what they want people to hear.
Rusak is new to both the organization and to Burlington.
He cuts a fine figure. Time will tell if he actually walks his talk.
Halton Region is hosting a job fair to help connect job seekers with more than 90 employers in the local community. The event is being held on Tuesday, September 24 at the Oakville Conference Centre, located at 2515 Wyecroft Road in Oakville, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Region holds Job Fair at Oakville Conference Centre, located at 2515 Wyecroft Road in Oakville
“Halton Region supports job seekers and employers through a variety of valuable services including training, career development and networking events,” said Halton Regional Chair Gary Carr. “We are very fortunate to have a highly skilled talent pool here in Halton, and our job fairs provide a great opportunity for those seeking employment to meet in person with employers from our thriving business community.”
Employers at the September job fair will represent a variety of industry sectors including technology, government, advanced manufacturing, retail, hospitality, and healthcare.
Halton Region will also be accepting resumés and interviewing candidates for roles in its three long-term care homes. Job opportunities at the Burlington, Milton and Oakville homes include cooks, dietary aides, personal support workers, registered nurses, registered practical nurses and schedulers.
Each year, the Region’s Employment Halton staff connect more than 12,000 job seekers with more than 250 local employers by providing services such as training, job placement and access to online job boards.
Employment Halton staff also offer workshops and one-on-one sessions to help job seekers create resumés, prepare for interviews and ultimately find work.
Road resurfacing work will be done on Brant Street between QEW and North Service Road
Between Sept. 10 and Oct. 3, Halton Region is resurfacing sections of Brant Street between the QEW and North Service Road. The road resurfacing work will result in QEW/403 ramp lane restrictions and closures between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m.
Lane shifts and restrictions on Brant Street are also in place.
🙂 This could be an exercise to get people ready for the road restrictions that will take place on Brant once the construction of The Gallery, the 23 story condominium going up across the street from city hall, begins.
For the most part there are no free lunches at city hall.
There is a fee attached to every service.
Each year the city reviews its schedule of fees and services; deletes some (rarely) and adds new fees when conditions change.
The list is long – we will not post what was agreed upon at Standing Committee because it might get revised when city council meets on the 23rd,.
The Gazette will publish the fee schedule once it has been approved by council on September 23rd.
The Standing Committee did hear a Staff recommendation to:
A proposed 2% indexation of Planning and Engineering fees taking effect January 1st, 2020 will offset the impact of inflation, while ensuring that the fee structure remains fair and reasonable to the development industry. Some exceptions of increased or new fees include:
Revision fee for a Zoning Certificate:
Change this fee to apply to 3rd and subsequent submissions, which better reflects the cost of staff resources to comprehensively re-review an application. The intention is to encourage applicants to conduct a fulsome review of the Zoning By- law prior to making a submission, thereby making submissions which require less revision.
Revision Fee for OPA:
Changing revision fees so that there is no longer a separate category for Major or Minor revisions. This brings the cost of revisions in line with Official Plan Applications, which no longer have Major or Minor application types.
Preconsultation Fee:
A complex Preconsultation Fee has been proposed for all Official Plan Amendments, Zoning By-law Amendments and Subdivisions. These applications currently have a preconsultation process with no associated fee. The new fee reflects the staff resources required to review the materials and provide comprehensive feedback.
Currently when preconsultation meetings do not result in a future development application, staff costs are not accounted for.
A Standard Preconsultation Fee has been proposed for all Site Plan, Variance (except for Sign Variance) and Consent Applications. There is currently a preconsultation process for Site Plan Applications and an informal service-counter preconsultation process for Variance and Consent Applications. The intention of adding a fee to this existing process is to add a formal process for Variance and Consent Applications, to account for staff time, and to provide greater quality control to applications that are received so that they are able to be processed with greater efficiency.
Both types of Preconsultation Fee (complex and standard) will be credited to a future application(s) within 1 year of a Preconsultation Meeting date, thereby rendering the fee cost neutral to formal applications. If an application is deemed to substantially deviate from the Preconsultation proposal a new Preconsultation fee, may be required, at the sole discretion of the Director of City Building. Additional Preconsultations beyond the first will not be credited to a future application.
Building Code Permits and Inspections
The Building Code Act (BCA), 1992 provides municipalities with the authority to collect fees to fully recover the cost of administration and enforcement of the BCA and the Ontario Building Code (OBC). Regulations made under the BCA/OBC outline the details of what can be included as part of the cost including direct and indirect costs, and provisions for a reserve fund. The basic principle for providing building permit and inspection services is: “Fees for Service”.
Rates and fees within the Section 6.11 of the City of Burlington Building Permit By- law 13-2018, are indexed to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of Ontario as of December 31st and are adjusted annually on February 1st.
It is important to note that the exact amount of prescribed index is to be derived from official figures published by Statistics Canada, a common practice and an industry standard. While the exact CPI amount is not available at the time this report is written, staff will provide this information to Committee as soon as published by Statistics Canada, on or before the Council meeting scheduled for January 2020.
Routine Disclosure allows the public the right of access to information through an informal request rather than a formal request under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA). This process and related fees were implemented in January 2019. It is therefore proposed these fees remain unchanged and no increase is recommended at this time.
Transit
The short-term focus in Transit continues to be system stability and building a foundation for future service changes and growth. In 2019 council provided the following direction to Burlington Transit:
o Provide free transit for adults 65 years of age and older between 9 a.m. and 2:30
p.m. on weekdays starting in June 2019 as a pilot;
o Provide free monthly passes on PRESTO for Burlington residents who qualify for the Subsidized Passes for Low Income Transit (SPLIT) program;
o Burlington Transit will work with Halton Region on ways to improve the Subsidized Passes for Low Income Transit program;
o Burlington Transit will work with school boards to develop a fare strategy for students;
o Burlington Transit will create a working group comprising of one Member of Council, members of the public and Burlington Transit Staff.
Transit staff will be monitoring these changes and strategizing to ensure that they are reasonable and appropriate as well comparable to other municipalities. For the 2020 rates and fees Transit Services will remained unchanged with the exception of:
o Discontinuance of all 10 ticket purchases. (Child, Student, Adult and Senior) effective August 31, 2019
o A 2% increase to Charter Fares to reflect inflationary cost increases.
Traffic Operations existing fees are proposed to increase by 2% to reflect inflationary cost increases.
Parking
Parking rates remain unchanged for 2020, as rates remain competitive.
Roads and Structures – Design and Construction
Tender Fees have generally increased by 4.5% to remain competitive with neighbouring municipalities while covering costs. The permits and curb cuts have increased 5% to help offset the increase in staff time required to deliver this service. The amount of staff time has increased significantly over the years in following up with contractors to complete their work to City standards.
Roadway and Sidewalk Maintenance
Upon completion of a market scan, an increase of 20% in 2020 is proposed for the windrow program to align with industry standards.
With a focus on increasing participation and fostering a sense of belonging for all residents, rates and fees are determined by community needs, customer feedback, participation rates, and market trends. A market analysis is performed each year to determine Burlington’s competitive position while keeping rates affordable to maintain and encourage participation.
Recreation Service
There are a total of 258 rates for programs and memberships for Recreation Services.
Rate increases are as follows:
o 3% average increase for Adults 55+ drop in programs
o 1% average increase for Aquatics recreational programs
o 1% average increase for both indoor and outdoor pool rates
o 1% average increase for Recreation Skate and Shinny Hockey
o 2% average increase for Youth, Teen, Preschool programs
o 2% increase for Tyandaga memberships
o 2% average increase for Gym rentals
o 1% average increase for Room rentals (includes Auditorium, Bandshell & Meeting)
o 6% average increase for Marketing (includes Arena Board, Live & Play and Read-O-Graphs)
New Rates:
o Shinny 10 Pass
o Tournament Application
Discontinued Rates:
o School Break Programs – In a continued effort to streamline rates, this rate was identified as a duplicate and is now combined / connected with other school break program rates.
o Make Time To Play Gymnasium Bookings – This rate discontinued as it is now connected to the Last Minute rate.
o Non-Resident Administration Fee Seniors (Per Program or Membership) – As opposed to having 2 Non-Resident Fees (General Programs and Seniors Programs), the rate has now been combined and called Non-Resident Administration Fee
o User Group Program Insurance Admin Fee – This fee has been discontinued as there has been a change in the fee structure with our current insurance provider.
Youth, Teen and Preschool recreational program rates were restructured to align with business needs and allow for flexibility for the changing market.
Overall, rates were maintained or slightly increased with the average rate increase between 2% and 3% to ensure customer participation and satisfaction.
Organized Sport Service
There are a total of 71 rates for Sport indoor and outdoor space rentals. Rate increases are as follows:
o 1% average increase in arena ice rentals
o 2% average increase for arena floor and storage rentals
o 2% average increase for school board use of city facilities
o 4% average increase for school board
o 2% increase for school board gymnasiums
o 2% increase for artificial turf
o 2% increase for park rentals
o 2% increase for photography and weddings
New Rates:
o Commercial / Non-Resident Arena Ice Rental
o Commercial / Non-Resident Arena Floor Rental
o Tournament Application
Overall, rates were maintained or slightly increased with the average rate increase between 2% and 3% to ensure customer participation and satisfaction.
Parks and Open Space Maintenance
An increase of 2% in 2020 is proposed for the adopt-a-bed program due to increased material and labour costs.
Tree Management
An increase of 2% is proposed for 2020 to cover the cost of staff time to review and process each permit.A new fee for Private tree permits have been added to the service for 2020. The pilot private tree bylaw was initiated in March 2019 and will continue until March 2021.This applies to the Roseland Community only. This fee for 2020 has been set equal to that of a public tree permit to ensure consistency in the process.
Cemetery
For 2020, after conducting a market comparison, Cemetery Service lot fees have been increased by 5.0% to better align with industry and market rates. All other Cemetery Service fees have been increased by 2%. It should be noted that care and maintenance fees for marker installations are prescribed by the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services, therefore do not see annual increases.
Overall, these rate adjustments are reflective of increased operating costs for labor, materials and contracted services.
Environment and Energy
Fees for the Community Garden program remain unchanged for 2020.
Arts & Culture Service
There are a total of 49 rates for Music, Teen Tour Band Student Theater and Festivals & Events.Rate increases are as follows:
o 2% increase for Teen Tour Band fees
o 5% increase for Student Theatre shows
o 4% increase for General Theatre Camp
o 5% increase for Specialized Theatre Camp
o 50% increase for Festivals and Events commercial events for marketplace vendors, activity providers and food vendor
o 3% increase for portable stage rental
o 3% increase for Filming Per Day
o 10% increase for Filming Application Fee New Rates:
o Student Theatre Once Upon A Time
o Special Event Application Process
Discontinued Rates:
o Festivals & Events Tent Rentals
o Filming Not For Profit / Student Rate
Overall, rates were maintained or slightly increased with the average rate increase between 2% and 5% to ensure customer participation and satisfaction. The 50% increase for Festivals and Events entries is proposed to reflect market rates.
Fire Emergency Response and Prevention
The Burlington Fire Department conducted a review of other local fire departments rates and fees for revenue generation and cost recovery. All rates that are showing an increase are comparable with other local fire departments and adjusted to align costs to the service provided. Emergency response costs provided by the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) are current to the last rate provided by the MTO, this rate may change in-year based on updated information provided by the MTO. All full cost recovery line items will be billed back to individuals and companies based on the total costs incurred; this will include personnel, supplies, and retention of any third-party services. All fire department rates and fees are to promote fire safety behavior, mitigate costs incurred due to fire code non-compliance and for any services or activities provided outside the primary areas of responsibility and/or done by on behalf of any other municipality (Municipal Act, 2001).
Animal Control
The Animal Control By-law #60-2005 is being amended to reflect an increase in fees. These fees are being adjusted for inflationary increases to keep fees consistent with City administration and enforcement costs. Some fees have traditionally been adjusted annually for inflation while other fees have been more comprehensively reviewed as to costs and market rates for equivalent service(s). This increase ensures that the fee structure is fair and reasonable, while reflecting the amount of effort in processing applications.
A market analysis has shown that the charges for dog and cat adoption fees are below other municipalities. The proposed increase of 4% will make the City’s adoption fees comparable, while still remaining reasonable.
Surrender fees have been increased to better reflect the costs associated with taking in an animal. Most times the animal is in need of veterinary care and a result they spend additional time at the shelter before they are ready for adoption. The City’s surrender fees have been historically low and the increase in the surrender fees will help offset these costs.
Boarding costs for quarantined animals were also increased – shelter staff have risk for injury in dealing with quarantined animals and this should be reflected in the costs. These boarding costs are substantially lower that private sector boarding fees.
Municipal Law Enforcement and Licensing
The primary reason for inflationary increases is to keep fees consistent with City administration and enforcement costs. Some fees have traditionally been adjusted annually for inflation, other than when fees have been more comprehensively reviewed as to costs and market rates for equivalent service(s).
Fee increases vary by each service type and reflects up to a 2% increase in fees, with some fees being rounded off to the nearest whole dollar.
Corporate Legal
There are no rates or fees increases proposed for 2020 however, the charge for Drainage System Appurtenances Agreements is now specified under “All other Agreements”.
Enabling Services Financial Management
Finance staff has reviewed fees to ensure that the City’s rates are reasonable, appropriate and comparable to other municipalities. As a result, the fees for Bid Request documents have been increased to a uniform $80 including HST for 2020 the same as tender documents for road construction.
Service Burlington
Clerks annually reviews fees across area municipalities to ensure fees are in line with other municipalities. As a result, there is a proposed rate increase of 2.0% across services. These fees are in line with area municipalities.
Geographic Information and Mapping
Where applicable, existing fees are proposed to increase by 2% to reflect inflation.
Sign Production Service
Increases of 2% are proposed for sign sales in 2020 due to increased material and labour costs.
Corporate
Corporate fees reflect items charged across city services. Fees are centralized to ensure consistency in charging across the organization. There are no proposed fee increases to corporate fees for 2020.
The rationale for charging user fees is that those who clearly benefit from a service should be the ones to pay for it. User fees form one of the most significant portions of revenue earned by the City after property tax revenues. In order to mitigate property tax increases, the City of Burlington has been proactive in ensuring that the services provided by the City reflect a high level of cost recovery to the greatest extent possible while balancing affordability and providing access to services.
Mayor Meed Ward just might be thinking about becoming the Town Crier or getting a costume and sharing the job with Dave Vollick who has been doing a fine job for at least five years.
The Town Crier hollers out vital news.
Knowing whom to talk to at city hall when you have a problem is something vital for the person who needs help.
The Gazette has heard complaint after complaint about the city web site providing little in the way of needed information.
Meed Ward went into full Town Crier mode when she published a list of who does what and provided the email address to get in touch with them.
Why didn’t the city administrators do this – did they have to get prodded by the Mayor who may have given up and just done the job herself?
In a statement that came with the list the Mayor said:
“To keep serving you better, and to help get a resolution to your City-related issue as quickly and efficiently as possible, here is a list of City department emails that you can contact in addition to my office at mayor@burlington.ca.
Also included beneath each email address are some of the issues that department looks after.
Don’t expect to get an instant response should you send an email. It would be nice if city council issued a Direction to the city manager to have a policy that every email will get a response before staff leave city hall at the end of each day.
access&privacy@burlington.ca
Freedom of Information requests. Requests can be made online at: www.burlington.ca/en/services-for-you/Freedom-of-Information-Requests.asp
animalcontrol@burlington.ca
Animal Control – dog bites, barking dogs, enforcement of dogs off leash, dog licensing, cat microchipping
Wildlife – coyotes, raccoons, etc.
building@burlington.ca
Bylaw enforcement (noise, nuisance, lot maintenance, property standards, talls grass/weeds)
Building permits – swimming pools, demolition, signs
Licensing – business, liquor and lottery
Bylaws
capitalworks@burlington.ca
Leash free dog parks
Grading and drainage issues
Stormwater management – bridges
Environmental Assessments
Driveway widenings and curb cuts
Flooding – flood assistance
Road reconstruction
Parks and Open Space Projects – park planning, new splash pads and playgrounds, construction of city buildings
Love My Playground
Community Energy Plan
Construction management issues (parking for tradespersons, haul routes for trucks, cranes, material storage, port-a-potties, noise, signage, etc.)
Environment – climate change, air quality, idling
Utility locates
city@burlington.ca
Inbox for general inquires.
claimsadministrator@burlington.ca
Claims against the city for personal or property damage.
Claims can be submitted online at: https://www.burlington.ca/en/your-city/Submit-a-Claim.asp
committees@burlington.ca
Agendas and Minutes – standing committees of council
Citizen advisory committees
contactbt@burlington.ca
Burlington Transit – Handi-Van, PRESTO, bus shelters
crossingguards@burlington.ca
Crossing guards
eventbookings@burlington.ca
Flag raisings
Festivals and events
feeassistance@burlington.ca
Fee assistance for city recreation programs
firedepartment@burlington.ca
Burlington Fire Department
Fire prevention and education, fire response times, fire routes, burn permits, requests for attendance at special events, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, emergency preparedness.
Planning and Development – site plans, zoning clearances/enquiries, heritage properties, committee of adjustment, Official Plan. List of current development applications in each city ward.
Facility and Park Rentals – city facility bookings
rpf@burlington.ca
Forestry – requests for new city trees, city tree trimming
Road and sidewalk maintenance – potholes, trip hazards
Snow Removal – from sidewalks and streets
Adopt-a-Flowerbed program
Loose Leaf Collection
Litter and Clean ups
– grass cutting and maintenance
– control of Canada Geese population
– wasp nest removal on city property
– garbage containers in parks-trails-sidewalks
– graffiti and vandalism in parks
– light maintenance at parks and city facilities
– maintenance of parks-beach-playgrounds-sports fields-trails-flower beds-creeks-traffic islands-city cemeteries tourism@burlington.ca Tourism Burlington – visitor information, city pin requests for large groups travelling, city flag requests
traffic@burlington.ca
Traffic Signals and Street Lights
Speeding – traffic calming and road safety
Transportation – planning, traffic operations, bike racks on sidewalks, street signs
In a media release from Community Development Halton we learn that:
Changes are happening at CDH! One of those changes will be new leadership as the Executive Director of over 20 years, Dr. Joey Edwardh will be retiring on October 9, 2019.
Retiring Community Development Halton Executive Director Joey Edwardh.
Many people from the Halton community have been inquiring regarding a retirement celebration for Joey. At Joey’s request the Board of Directors and staff will NOT be hosting a retirement celebration in her honour. We respect her wishes and therefore ask the public to please send your best wishes to her directly at Community Development Halton. Joey will be in the office until Wednesday October 9, 2019.
On behalf of the Board of Directors, I extend the very best wishes and gratitude to Joey for her tenure at the helm of CDH. The Board of Directors is proud of the accomplishments and impact under her leadership and the positive contribution she has made to the Halton community. Much of the work has been recognized and has been adopted in communities across the province.
Both CDH and Joey will be making new strides into the future of 2020. On behalf of the CDH Board of Directors, I wish Joey every success as she embraces new challenges on her future journey.
Sincerely, Jan Mowbray-President.
There has to be more to this story. Full disclosure; the publisher of the Gazette is in a relationship with a member of the CDH Board.
Conservative leader Andrew Scheer is promising to slash the lowest of our five income tax brackets from 15% to 13.75%. That would add an estimated $6 billion a year to the annual deficit when fully implemented. Though the change is only at the lowest step rate, it will benefit not just the lower-income class but all the higher-income folks as well, given the progressive nature of our tax system.
Most people really didn’t know who Andrew Scheer is – in the next month they will get their chance to determine if he should be the next Prime Minister.
Mr. Scheer is essentially copying Mr. Trudeau, who cut taxes for the middle class, the second lowest step by 1.5% shortly after becoming PM. Those with lower-incomes spend virtually all of their money, and that new spending helped the country avoid the impending 2015 recession Mr. Harper’s Tories was facilitating with his austerity program.
Except that, unlike Scheer’s plan, Trudeau also raised the marginal tax rate on those earning over $200,000, to 33%, thereby attempting and almost succeeding to achieve revenue neutrality. One needs to ask why Mr. Scheer wouldn’t apply the same formula to his plan, add another step for those earning, say over a million big ones, hitting them with a marginal rate of 40 or even 50 percent – or whatever would allow his tax cut to become revenue neutral?
Canada had 1.3 million millionaires in 2018 and that’s expected to rise to nearly two million people by 2023. Instead, Scheer’s promised new tax cut is just paying taxpayers with their own money, leaving an annual $6 billion of debt as an unwelcome inheritance for their children.
And how wise is it to slash taxes when Canada’s economy is booming with record low unemployment and solid economic growth? Timing is important. There is a danger that new consumer spending might just overheat the economy, raising the risk of inflation and lead to higher interest rates. Is this really the most prudent fiscal policy for today’s economy or just another populist vote-getter?
And for those with the lowest incomes, it amounts to a little over a dollar a day by Mr. Scheer’s own calculations. If Scheer’s goal is to help lower-income Canadians, it would have been more effective to cut the regressive HST by one percentage point, or expand a program like national pharmacare which would reduce the burden of health-related costs for most ordinary Canadians.
dividual tax returnWhen Mr. Harper followed through on a campaign promise to reduce the goods and services tax rate from seven to five percent, the net effect was roughly the same $6 billion in lost revenue as Mr. Scheer’s income tax cutting proposal. But this was not only very popular, but also sound progressive social policy, as it left more loose change in the pockets of those who needed it most.
Scheer is determined to eliminate at least one sales tax, the carbon tax. Unfortunately that would hurt more than help lower-income Canadians, since the annual rebate exceeds what most Canadians pay in carbon taxes. Of course Scheer doesn’t ever mention the carbon rebate, which is nothing short of intellectual dishonesty – a lie by omission is still a lie.
And there is a certain irony in another dishonesty when he attacks Trudeau’s original income tax cuts, the ones he is only partially emulating. Specifically he is using figures from a flawed analysis by the partisan Fraser Institute to argue that middle-income earners are now paying $800 a year more.
Liberals eliminated the transit credit.
In their analysis the Fraser institute netted out other changes to the tax system, such as the transit credit, which was eliminated by the Liberals, but completely ignored the Canada Child Benefit which was responsible for lifting almost 900,000 people out of poverty since 2015. Correcting that deficiency showed that there was now over $2000 more in people’s pockets – not bad for a ‘tax-and-spend Liberal’.
And Scheer is promising to bring back those Harper-era tax credits for using public transit – a 15 per cent credit on weekly and monthly transit passes. That would cost over $200 million a year according to the Parliamentary Budget Office. Analysis of this feature had concluded that this was a very costly measure with most of the benefits going to those who could best afford it anyway.
Still, for a government which has made climate action a priority, encouraging transit ridership, however that is accomplished, is a good idea. Kudos to Mr. Scheer for resurfacing this policy. Changing our behaviour and reliance on the automobile is a problem, not only for traffic congestion, but also related to climate change. And by the way, a tax credit to encourage public transit makes a perfect companion to a today’s electric vehicle rebates and the carbon tax.
It is a hard sell for an opposition party going up against a government that has managed the economy as well as the Trudeau government has over the last four years. So Scheer and the other parties are either going ballistic, like the Greens wanting to kill the TMX pipeline, or becoming desperate and committing to problematic policies, like Scheer’s income tax cuts.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – making it sound easy.
Many voters have been cultured to believe that the biggest job for any government is to wrestle the annual deficit down to zero. Mr. Trudeau had promised to eliminate it over the course of his first term. And Andrew Scheer had also promised to do so within his first two years. But now all bets are off and none of the major leaders are promising to eliminate the deficit over the next next four year electoral term. That is, unless Maxime Bernier is brought into the discussion from the far right-field of dreams.
And there are no alarm bells ringing, at least not like like the ones Ontario premier Ford rang when he ousted the provincial Liberals by exaggerating the size of the provincial deficit by a factor of two. In fact, the real numbers were relatively closer to former Wynne’s final accounts, and even the Auditor General apparently got it wrong. How does $15 billion really become only a little over seven billion dollars?
Today’s important economic health metric is the debt to GDP ratio. So long as it is declining, the economic levers are moving in the right direction. After all, we owe the vast majority of our public debt only to ourselves, and even the servicing costs just come back to us in interest payments, which are again taxed back to an extent. What is most important is how well we grow the economic pie so that we all get a larger share, are better off and minimize unemployment. Oh, and did I mention the environment and our climate?
The NDP, which promised in the last election that it would religiously balance its budgets, has now decided to be guided by the new metrics, as are the Liberals. And the Green Party is still talking about eventually eliminating the deficit but nobody has seriously talked about the debt since the Chretien and Martin governments were defeated back in 2006.
And of course the deficit can always be reduced or eliminated by increasing taxation, as the Greens or the NDP would do while making the rich pay their fair share, however one defines that. But not by cutting taxes for everyone, including the wealthiest Canadians as Mr. Sheers 1.25% income tax cut would end up doing.
Ray Rivers writes regularly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was once a candidate for provincial office in Burlington. He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject. Ray has a post graduate degree in economics that he earned at the University of Ottawa. Tweet @rayzrivers
The public is waiting for the report written by two former municipal players, one elected the other appointed.
Michael Fenn was once the City Manager for Burlington; he was asked by the Minister of Municipal Affairs to do a review of the Tier 1 governments – what we call Regional governments.
Michael Fenn and Ron Selig listening to delegations during the Provincial Review.
The Minister asked Ron Selig, a municipal politician to join Fenn and to report by the end of July.
That deadline came and went – it was put off until after the federal election and now we learn that it is going to come back to the table sometime in the New Year.
Governments always stage the release of unpalatable information at a time that meets their agenda. Their favourite trick is to release bad news on a Friday afternoon of a long weekend.
One of the issues that came up during the Review process that Fenn and Selig carried out was the idea of merging Burlington, Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills into a top Tier government and calling it the City of Halton. It would take over everything the current Region of Halton does as well as merge what has been done at the municipal level and have it done by what would become a mega-municipality.
And that would be the end of local participation which has been a hall mark of citizen participation on Ontario.
Two groups, one in Burlington and one in Oakville responded to this – and became known as We Love Burlington and We Love Oakville – the Gazette refers to them as The Lovelies. They are asking people to SAY NO TO AMALGAMATION and let the government know that this just isn’t on.
While the Ford government at Queen’s Park has made some truly stupid initiatives they have learned when to back off.
They did so with the attempt Doug Ford made to appoint a family friend as the Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police; they did so with the huge outcry from parents with autistic children, and then dumped a Minister of Education who was getting parents really riled up over classroom sizes.
So they aren’t deaf – just a little thick between the ears.
The Lovelies had this to say – well worth listening to…
We Love Burlington and our friends at We Love Oakville both believe that the Doug Ford government is intending to merge our cities, along with Milton and Halton Hills, into a mega city of Halton.
Some municipalities in Ontario have called for a referendum by the citizens before any such moves are made. For a government which touts that it is “for the people” and is “listening”, this would seem to be the obvious and most democratic way forward. However, in 2000, the Mike Harris government passed Bill 62, the Direct Democracy through Municipal Referendums Act, which allows the Provincial Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to prohibit a municipal referendum on a matter which he judges to be in the provincial interest, even if the matter would normally be deemed to be within municipal jurisdiction.
If we don’t speak up now, it will be too late! We have seen examples where the Doug Ford government has backtracked on planned legislation due to a large public outcry. And though it is shocking to most people, it is a fact that municipal governments, the ones that affect us all the most in our day-to-day lives, are essentially powered by the Province. We are often asked “can the Province do this? Do they have the power to take away our local municipal officials and our local voice?” Unfortunately, the answer is yes.
There is limited time left in which to ensure your voices are heard. Please send our letter, it is HERE, it only takes a moment. If you have already sent it, thank you, but please send the link to family members and friends and neighbours.
Merging our municipalities is a real threat and time is running out. Diluting the municipal powers but keeping the names intact has the same result as creating a megacity with one name. Don’t let either one happen!
We’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating. If it is true that bigger government is better government with greater span of control and improved efficiencies through broadened scope, then why are the majority of municipalities not part of the current review?
The review is looking at 82 municipalities but there are 361 municipalities where the review is not happening (including the town of Brockville, Minister of Municipal Affairs & Housing Steve Clark’s riding, and North Bay, former Finance Minister Vic Fedeli’s riding).
Is the motivation/animus for the review personal and political?
The Greenbelt that surrounds the GTA municipalities has been something developers have always wanted to have access to – governments have kept them out – this government appears to want to open the gates.
Is it driven by cities that border the greenbelt or are considered appealing for massive development? Bill 108 is known as the Developers’ Dream Bill for a reason. Merging cities and towns bordering on the greenbelt, with the resulting reduction of municipal government powers, would surely be another dream come true for the development industry at the expense of the citizens.
Help us spread the word – NO MEGACITY OF HALTON!
There is some excellent academic research that debunks the myth that larger governments save money. Richard Tindal in a well-received paper said: “Many of us in the academic world have debunked the myth about amalgamations saving money for decades. Andrew Sanction, Robert Bish, Harry Kitchen, Wendell Cox, and Michael Keating – among others – have all explained why amalgamations don’t save money.”
Craig Gardner reports that despite iiffy weather the 39th Annual Terry Fox run brought out more participants this year than last and raised more in the way of funds for cancer research.
Craig Gardner delegating before city council – asked for a waiver of a municipal fee.
There were 1139 participants (944 last year). The donation total so far is $111,470 ($81,000 last year).
A monument done in granite that marks the spot where Terry Fox was in 1980 when he made an historic run across most of Canada.
$111,470 is the second highest amount raised; in 2005, the 25 anniversary they raised just under $127k
Participant-wise the Run has had three years where the number was over 1200. Gardner reports that “this is our fourth best participation number and second best donation total.”
The Regional government created a Community Investment Fund that supports a wide range of non-profit health and social service programs and initiatives that enhance the health, safety and well-being of Halton residents.
Approximately $1 million is available for new grants in 2020.
Halton Region administrative offices.
Funding is provided in single and multi-year grants through two categories:
• Category One: one-year of funding up to $30,000 to non-profit, charitable or unincorporated community organizations for short-term, small capital and/or innovative projects.
• Category Two: up to three years of funding to charitable organizations for programs and initiatives.
Applications for HRCIF funding must focus on supporting vulnerable residents in our community. The HRCIF encourages organizations to submit proposals that demonstrate collaborative approaches to address community needs and is aligned with Halton’s overall approach to community safety and well-being planning.
The deadline to apply to both funding categories is November 1, 2019 at 2 p.m.
Community organizations interested in learning more about HRCIF and the application process can attend an information session on September 25 or October 1.
To register for these sessions and for HRCIF guidelines and application forms, visit the HRCIF webpage or call 311.
A well run municipality has a council that has its ear to the ground and hears what people are saying, what they want and why they want it.
A well run municipality has an administration that has its ear to the council chamber floor where they can hear what the will of council is and where council wants to go.
There are not a lot of municipalities that are that aware – Burlington certainly wasn’t when Capital Works was tearing down a small building on Caroline and John to create more parking space.
Months before any work was being done council was making it clear that they were more environmentally inclined than the 2014-18 council.
The current council had declared a Climate Emergency and they wanted something about what the environmental impact was for every decision they made.
No trees, no shrubs, no sense of design on a street that leads into one of the nicest communities in the city.
At a Council meeting in July Councillor Shawna Stolte asked why the newly opened parking lot at Caroline and John didn’t have anything of note that was environmental.
No trees, no shrubs and not a square foot of permeable surface.
The lot was very small; it would have been a perfect site to do a little experimenting.
The opportunity got away on them.
However all was not lost.
EArlier this week, Council set out a number of Staff Directions:
Direct the Director of Transportation Services to review the newly built parking lot at the corner of John Street and Caroline Street with the goal of developing and implementing design changes providing more greenspace, trees, and a seating area.
Direct the Director of Transportation Services to review the safety of pedestrian movements at the intersection of Caroline Street and John Street.
Direct the Director of Transportation to review the practices of other municipalities on parking lot design, and report back to committee and council with draft green parking lot design guidelines.
Direct the Director of Transportation to consult the City of Toronto’s “Design Guidelines for Greening Surface Parking Lots” as a reference on future parking lot designs, rebuilds or resurfacing in Burlington until Burlington guidelines are approved by Council.
Toronto has parking lot design guidelines that Council wants Burlington to keep in mind.
Other municipalities, notably Toronto, have developed green parking lot design practices to address environmental and urban design criteria that, among other things, “include strategies for reducing the urban heat island effect, improving pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, using energy efficient fixtures and recycled materials, managing storm water run-off on-site, and preserving and enhancing the urban forest.”
Typically, the emphasis in parking lot design is on accommodating vehicle movements, maximizing the number of parking spaces, and ensuring ease of maintenance and servicing. When functional requirements are the only objectives considered in parking lot design, the design outcome is generally undesirable, with poor quality landscaping, unattractive streetscapes and a lack of pedestrian safety, comfort and amenity.”
The new Caroline and John Street parking lot was designed and constructed with the goal of maximizing the number of parking spaces, resulting in little to no area for trees, green space or seating areas.
The hope is that by incorporating further design changes into part of the lot nearest to John Street and the intersection of Caroline/John, the city can enhance the area from an environmental and beautification perspective, adding trees, green space and perhaps a bench. Stolte wants to see the city develop its own green parking lot design standards which will be applied to future city owned parking facilities and where possible private parking lots as well.
At some point this parking lot is going to have to have a permeable surface put in to replace the asphalt that create islands of heat.
The acres of parking space at the Mapleview and Burlington Centre locations are opportunities for significant changes.
When the early renderings for the Skyview Village Plaza were shown to the public there were dozens of trees. They disappeared in later renderings; the architect had it right the first time.
Proposed capital cost estimate of design changes to the existing parking lot is to be determined by staff with funding to be drawn from the downtown parking reserve fund that was originally used to construct the parking lot expansion.
The report came out of the Office of the Mayor and not from a city department. Hopefully the people on the Burlington Leadership Team and the Directors of the numerous departments will hear what is being said.
I have been contacted by naturalized gardeners from Burlington and experts from across the province of Ontario regarding the disgraceful, anti-environmental behaviour of the City of Burlington and its by-law enforcement officers when it comes to naturalized front yards like Antheia’s and Paul Raun’s.
The garden was determined to be legal but the property owner took a day off work to be sure the bylaw people didn’t pull it all out of the ground.
Author had to fight the bylaw officers and educate them on what the milkweed plant actually does for the environment.
Dave Bour, a member of Burlington Green, copied me on his letter to the Mayor and Councillors. Dave’s letter is indicative of many that I was copied on and is re-printed here:
“I have to say as a long-term resident of Burlington, I’m disappointed to read of the city’s approach to people trying to improve the environment by eliminating their grass and instead planting native plants drawing a collection of beneficial creatures including monarchs, various pollinators, birds and other small animals.
“I applaud those taking the initiative to create sustainable yards that don’t require a ton of chemicals nor water to survive, never mind eliminating the need for gas fuelled trimmers and mowers which are worse than most vehicles on the road.
“Collectively, as a city and individuals, it is time to walk the talk. Some people are going to be upset. The sooner we educate the population on the real impact of climate change, the better the chance we have of mitigating its impact.
“I realize it’s all vogue to make the declarations right now because a lot of cities are doing it but let’s, as a community, really do something about it. Let’s make us the number one place in Canada to live as MacLean’s declared us recently, not just for their ratings, but a truly environmental conscious place to live. We need to change our practices at our city parks regarding maintenance and plant choices, make personal decisions to live greener life styles, and challenge those who would complain of the natural preserves people are starting to grow.
“Let’s stop harassing those trying to do something positive. Every trend has to start somewhere.”
Author and naturalized garden expert, Lorraine Johnson, also contacted Mayor Meed Ward. Full disclosure, Johnson wrote an article in the 2019 winter edition of Ground Magazine about my fight to save the milkweed in my garden in July 2018.
Johnson actually met Mayor Meed Ward this past winter at the World Wildlife Fund/Carolinian Canada symposium on native plants and landscape restoration, at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Johnson recalls the mayor spoke passionately about the importance of restoring landscapes and species.
Lorraine Johnson’s garden
Johnson realizes, “A lot of people see naturalized gardens as landscapes that are neglected and ‘let go,’ and that neighbours are often concerned about a perceived impact on their own property values. I realize that the issues are complex and will require huge shifts in attitudes and practices.
“But we are at a crossroads, facing multiple environmental crises — climate change, loss of habitats and species– and what we need now more than ever are landscapes of biodiversity and resilience. Yet cities such as Burlington are using vague and contradictory bylaws to enforce dominant but outdated and environmentally harmful aesthetic standards.”
“In at least two Ontario court cases over naturalized gardens, the courts have affirmed gardeners’ constitutional right to naturalized gardens, subject only to safety and health considerations. Just because someone doesn’t like the ‘look’ of these landscapes is not a good enough–or even legal–reason for cities to mandate conformity to a standard that contributes to the environmental mess we’re in.”
Johnson has been involved in these issues for three decades and has been helping to draft policies related to natural gardens, including pollinator gardens, in Toronto. She very kindly offered in her letter to speak further with representatives from the City to, “. . . find a way to enact positive and enabling policies promoting naturalized gardens and to help educate the public about their crucial value and importance.”
Once you read the response issued by the Office of the Mayor, you’ll understand the bewilderment and frustration experienced by Bour, Johnson, myself and the many others who received the same emailed answer:
Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward
“Thank you for your email regarding naturalized lawns in the City. In order for the City to do our part in efforts to protect species and help our environment, the City made changes in 2018 to our Lot Maintenance By-Law to allow for naturalized lawns. Our Lot Maintenance By-Law can be found here.
The By-Law spells out the types of grass, weeds and plants that are permitted as per the Provinces Weed Control Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. W.5, as amended, on properties.
The By-Law defines a naturalized area as: ‘a yard or a portion of a yard containing vegetative growth that does not form part of a natural garden that has been deliberately implemented to produce ground cover, including one or more species of wildflowers, shrubs, perennials, grasses or combinations of them, whether native or non-native, consistent with a managed and natural landscape other than regularly mown grass.’ In addition, the By-Law requires that all property owners remove and destroy all noxious weeds from their property, including within naturalized areas, between May 1 and October 15 each calendar year.
There are numerous examples across the City of naturalized lawns where no enforcement action is taken due to the manner in which the lawns are carefully grown, maintained and cared for and where a buffer strip is maintained. The City’s By-Law defines a “buffer strip” as cutting all grass and ground cover within three (3) feet of any adjoining property line. Similar By-Laws exist across municipalities within Ontario.
The City receives hundreds of complaints every year regarding the issue of tall grass and weeds as well as naturalization of properties. All complaints are investigated and treated the same under the provisions of our Lot Maintenance By-Law which allows the naturalization of properties. We give all property owners the right to clear and maintain their property to the provisions set out in the Lot Maintenance By-Law.
Enforcement only takes place after all avenues are exhausted by our Municipal By-Law Officers with the property owner whose property has not been brought into compliance with our By-Law. When it comes to enforcing By-laws in the City of Burlington, City staff always try to work collaboratively with residents including educating them about our By-Law requirements.
We encourage residents to continue to do their part to help the climate anyway they can including growing and maintaining naturalized lawns that fall within our Lot Maintenance By-law.”
Bour and Johnson expressed disappointment that the response was woefully inadequate and failed to address their concerns. Johnson has not received a reply to her offer of help.
Vince Fiorito, Founder of Friends of Sheldon Creek was named the Steward of Sheldon Creek by the Halton Conservation Authority.
Vince Fiorito, Founder of Friends of Sheldon Creek, was copied on the response from the Mayor’s Office and has since sent this reply to the Mayor and council:
Dear Mayor Marianne Meed Ward and city council
“I appreciate and share your concerns regarding the city of Burlington’s property standards.
“City policy in this area is dated, contributes to climate change, environmental toxification and the biodiversity crisis.
“My understanding is that Lorraine Johnson has offered to help the city of Burlington modernize city policies in this area.
“Ms. Johnson is a successful author and recognized subject matter expert in naturalized gardens with significant experience helping cities modernize their property standards bylaw. I strongly recommend you accept her generous offer to help modernize city policies in this area.
“I am also willing to help the city modernize its property standards bylaws and would consider it an honor to assist Ms. Johnson. I own many of her books, including one of her first, The Ontario Naturalized Gardener, which inspired me to cultivate endangered native species and host plants for endangered butterflies over 25 years ago.
“I also recommend this working group to modernize city property standards bylaw include a representative of the Burlington horticultural society, which is why I cc’d their general inquiry email account.
“I also recommend including city staff who enforce the property standards bylaw in the working group.
“I recommend setting a date before Earth Day, April 22, 2020, as deadline to pass a new modernized property standards bylaw, so that the mayor can make a timely announcement.
“A very talented wise person has made the city a very generous offer. I strongly recommend that you reply to her respectfully and in a way that unites everyone concerned about city property standards. We want the city of Burlington to be a leader in the effort to fight climate change, the biodiversity crisis and environmental toxification.”
It’s clear this issue of naturalized landscaping is far from being settled.
Doreen Nicoll is a Burlington resident who is, if anything, outspoken. She is a feminist, an environmentalist, a free lance writer, teacher and social activist and member of several community organizations working diligently to end poverty, hunger and gendered violence.
It was an impressive demonstration of candidates expressing themselves in clear unequivocal terms on the broad range of issues before the public. At least one of the candidates was so eloquent, and spoke with such passion from the heart, it seemed as if it had been beautifully scripted in advance.
That was the debate for candidates wanting to become the next US Democratic president. The CTV/MacLeans Canadian leader’s debate, that same evening, was something else. The consensus of the pundits was that the winner was the only major leader who wasn’t there, Justin Trudeau. He was at an election campaign event in Edmonton, at a riding he is hoping to take away from the NDP incumbent.
Elizabeth May, Andrew Scheer and Jagmeet Singh debate the issues without Prime Minister Trudeau.
It might have been the antiseptic-white hospital setting or the way in which the studio lights con-tinuously featured in the images. And Paul Wells, who moderated, really should stick to his day job as a columnist for MacLeans. Ill at ease in that forum he fumbled with the questions and failed to control the debate as candidates drifted off topic and squabbled among themselves. Then there was the empty podium, which the organizers obviously thought cute, but just stood out like a sore thumb making their event look even more awkward.
The candidates, and Scheer in particular, used the venue to attack the absent PM. But if that was his objective it rang pretty hollow, as he himself came under criticism for falling back on discredited Harper era positions. Still, unsurprisingly all three leaders used the opportunity to gang up on Trudeau when the issue of SNC prosecution came up.
The Globe and Mail is at it again, reporting that former Attorney General, Jodi Wilson-Raybould, now running as an independent, had been interviewed again by the RCMP. Clearly Scheer, raising this matter, was hoping to make it Trudeau’s Hillary Clinton moment? An eleventh hour FBI investigation into Clinton’s personal email account cast sufficient doubt among Democratic voters that they allowed Trump to slip ahead and win the election.
Perhaps because expectations of his performance were low, Jagmeet Singh appeared to do reasonably well. His comments typically cited personal anecdotes of mothers with children in their arms or at their feet fretting over the high costs of prescriptions and the perils of climate change. Or he just fell into making broad generalities about policies, raising the question of his actual knowledge of those issues. But mostly he just resorted to the time-honoured and tiresome language of class struggles – the rich versus the poor.
Elizabeth May just failed to impress, especially as there is such expectation of her soaring to replace the NDP as Canada’s third party. She rode the middle ground in some cases, as for example in holding the line on expanding Canada’s universal health care system. And yet she went extreme in others, such as claiming she’d end the major B.C. LNG export project. She often seemed to be riding the fence between agreeing on many issues with both Scheer or Trudeau, perhaps hoping to draw votes from one and the other.
May kept referencing the danger of exceeding an increase of 1.5 C in global temperature, as if it were something Canada could do on its own. She also harped on about setting tougher targets as if that alone would achieve results.
An interesting exchange occurred when Andrew Scheer picked up on her promise to achieve zero carbon emissions for all households in Canada. Scheer has promised to restart the former Chretien home efficiency program that his party had cancelled shortly after gaining power back in 2006.
While Trudeau was somewhere else, it almost seemed that Scheer would have liked to join him. Ill at ease, he stood between the other two leaders like a block of wood, never breaking a smile. Speaking without passion and in generalities that rivaled the other two leaders, it was hard to imagine him as prime ministerial.
He boasted that he has the best climate action plan, but provided only aspirational detail as to how it would achieve that goal. Scheer’s climate plan has been panned by even the Globe and Mail and attacked by economists as leading to increased rather than reduced emissions. And his constant reference to expansion of resource industries, echoed back to Stephen Harper’s fixation on oil and gas exports and his disregard for the environment.
Though Scheer at one point had indicated he would not be eliminating the federal deficit, he has apparently had a change of heart as he is now promising to do so over an election cycle. Still his promises to balance the budget, cut taxes and continue health and other spending priorities sounds a lot like the impossible dream – the one Doug Ford had also promised in Ontario’s last election.
And Scheer has to be skating on thin ice, virtually accusing Trudeau of illegality in the SNC caper, when even the former attorney general said that was not the case. It is all too reminiscent of Mr. Ford accusing former premier Wynne of corruption. If Mr. Scheer really wanted to distance himself from the troubled Ontario premier he could start by changing the channel on that kind of language which smacks of desperation.
All things considered, this debate was a useful exercise in that it provided a venue for the opposition parties to expose their platforms and address what they would do differently were they to win the top honours. That would have been instructive for the viewers had there been more focus on platform detail. And it would have been useful to see exactly how the Greens and NDP differ as they struggle for 3rd place in Canadian politics.
Jagmeet Singh, a,no show Liberal leader, Andrew Scheer and Elizabeth May.
The Liberals are now in power and despite any promises they make during the campaign will and should be running largely on their record. So Mr. Trudeau’s absence in this side-debate is less critical from that perspective. He will come before the public in the official election commission debate in early October, in addition to a special Quebec TV debate.
The Bloc Quebecois is a Quebec-only party, but Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party is national,
with candidates slated for all ridings in the country. Given that Mr. Trudeau had indicated well in advance that he would be a no-show, it is curious why Mr. Bernier wasn’t invited to fill the empty podium, or even why he wasn’t invited in the first place. It would have been instructive for prospective voters to see what Mr. Bernier, who came within a whisper of becoming Conservative leader would do were he to become PM.
Ray Rivers writes weekly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was a candidate for provincial office in Burlington where he ran against Cam Jackson in 1995, the year Mike Harris and the Common Sense Revolution swept the province. He developed the current policy process for the Ontario Liberal Party.
Request for Expressions of Interest For public art proposals at City View Park. Deadline: Friday October 11, 2019 Budget: Budget: $120,000 CAD
The City of Burlington invites professional artists to submit Expressions of Interest to create an exterior public art installation for a new pavilion being constructed at City View Park (2500 Kerns Road, Burlington). This competition is open to all Canadian and International professional artists and/or artist-led teams.
Proposed pavilion got City View Park.
A professional artist is an individual who has specialized skills and/or training in his/her artistic discipline (not necessarily in academic institutions), has a history of public presentation and is critically recognized as an artist.
The artwork will be located in a large naturalized area in front of the pavilion. This area serves as an entrance point to the pavilion, linking together pathways from the (future) parking to the front entrance and a central roadway. This location will also allow for excellent views of the artwork from inside the pavilion’s main lobby as there are large glass walls looking out onto this area.
An artwork proposal is not requested at this time. This is a two-phase process: in Phase One, applicants will be reviewed on the basis of artistic merit of past work, professional qualifications and experience. In Phase Two, short-listed artists will be required to submit a preliminary artwork concept proposal that will be displayed for public comment and jury review. Artists selected for the short-list will be provided with a full Request for Proposals outlining detailed artwork specifications prior to developing their proposals. Short-listed artists will be paid an artist fee of $1500 to develop their proposals.
To learn more and apply visit: burlingtonpublicart.com
It cleaned up pretty good. The station was the start of trips to other places. And it was where you got off when you were coming home. Troops left for war from the station. They would march up Brant Street and onto the railway property. Keeping it and turning it into a small local museum has taken a lot of work with many obstacles to overcome. Now the station has to be prepared for the winter weather.
They need some help.
They are a great bunch to work with and this will get you out of the house.
The Friends of Freeman Station note that it has been a great first summer season at Freeman. Now we need help tidying up, getting the Station ready for the winter. Hopefully you will be able to spare some time on one or more of the following days to help out.
Evening settles on the station.
September 14, Saturday 9am to Noon Scrape & Paint Outside Trim September 16, Monday 9am to Noon Winterizing the Station September 18, Wednesday 9am to Noon Moving the compound September 21, Saturday 9am to Noon Scrape & Paint Outside Trim September 23, Monday 9am to Noon Winterizing the Station September 25, Wednesday 9am to Noon Winterizing the Station September 30, Monday 9am to Noon Winterizing the Station October 2, Wednesday 9am to Noon Winterizing the Station
Just come on down to the Station in your working clothes and we will set you onto to the tasks required.
Ron Foxcroft has done much for Burlington and Hamilton.
He was made a Member of the Order of Canada last week and everyone wants him to know that they are pleased as punch.
Foxcroft is wearing a smile a mile wide – and asking the Tiger Cats who put together the video below not to blow the Grey Cup game that should bring the cup to the city.
This afternoon city council will be discussing and debating one of the biggest problems the city faces: Managing the growth.
In a story we published earlier in the month we wrote:
“Assume just two people to a dwelling (and that is quite an assumption) we are looking at between 29 and 42 thousand new dwellings.”
This was in reference to a study that was done in 2008 when the City undertook an Intensification Study to better understand the intensification opportunities in the City which could accommodate growth to 2031. It was recognized at that time that the City’s supply of Greenfield land was diminishing and a more comprehensive approach to planning for intensification was needed.
That study focused on key areas within the City’s urban area and included a site by site analysis to identify opportunities for infilling and redevelopment. This study, which laid out a general framework for longer term growth planning in the City, determined a reasonable estimate of residential units, people and jobs, which could be provided through intensification by 2031. The study also concluded that Burlington was expected to exceed the 40% intensification target in the Growth Plan that is applied Region wide.
While taking the applause did the members of this newly elected city council have any idea how big a job they had ahead of them?
The study findings were used to inform the growth analysis work that was undertaken by Halton Region through their Sustainable Halton process, which resulted in population and employment growth forecasts to 2031 as well as intensification and density targets for the City and the other municipalities in the Region.
One of Burlington’s younger citizens uses a Lego model to explain to council just what the city will look like when the development being proposed are completed.
The city is now preparing their comments and input for the 2041 growth targets, That’s where that “looking at between 29 and 42 thousand new dwellings” comes from. That is a massive number that most people are not fully aware of – the Gazette wasn’t around in 2008 – we would have alerted you.
This is how the rubber hits the road when a resident takes a complaint to the city administration and then the elected member of Council.
It is not a pretty picture – the only bright spot is the patience the resident has shown.
The issue is with the property known as 2013 Paisley, a small bungalow that is said to have been vacant for two years.
House is said to have been vacant for two years. Complaints made to bylaw department – no action so far.
Mark Passalent writes Grant Ziliotto, the city’s Manager of By-Law Enforcement, Licensing & Animal Services informing him that the September 9 notice was issued in response to his complaint. It is presently tucked on top of the mailbox, next to the notice from June that was issued after he filed the first complaint for this year.
Complaints were previously filed in 2018, and notices issued.
Passalent was complaining about the vermin that were infesting the property since 2018. He asks:
“Please take the time to respond to the following questions and concerns. This property, its rats, rabbits, ragweed and goldenrod are directly behind and adjoining my yard.”
What does acting with the owner involve, and what is the status? What is the time frame allowed for response in this instance? Is the time period discretionary? Does it decrease with each offence and each time the City has to act to maintain the property? How long can we expect to wait for the property to be acted on once this period has expired? Is there a City action plan for properties that are persistently derelict, or does the City only respond to complaints? Shall I put a reminder in my calendar to file another complaint in 3 weeks?
Gary Parker whose home abuts the property asks: “ If in fact Grant is ‘actively working with the owner’ we have yet to see any positive result of that ‘action’. The staked black plastic barrier around the perimeter certainly hasn’t helped and in fact it’s contributed to the establishment of a more secure environment for the vermin that infest this property.
“I’ll be interested to see what kind of response you receive to this very clearly worded request. It would seem to any reasonable person that the situation at 2013 Paisley is extraordinary in that it has now been vacant for close to two years and its owner has basically thumbed his nose at all of us.”
He adds: “And just as a curiosity: why would they deliver a notice to an obviously vacant property – on multiple occasions? ( and then wait for a response?)”
Lisa Kearns – Councillor for ward 2
Ward 2 Councillor Lisa Kearns who has been copied in on the correspondence responds to the concern about 2013 Paisley saying: “Appreciate your patience with my responding as I wanted to first connect with Grant Ziliotto who is aware of the situation and confirms that his team is actively working with the owner to address the concern. Grant indicates that as at most recently (Sept. 9/19), a notice was issued requiring the property be brought into compliance.
“In answer to your question about “Can you please explain to me what process and rights the City has in dealing with a residential property that remains vacant and derelict?”, once a complaint is received, an investigation follows, and if non-compliant, the owner is issued a notice requiring compliance within a certain time-frame. If the time-frame is not met, then the city will proceed with further enforcement. For more information, visit By-law Enforcement. To her credit Kearns did get on top of the problem as soon as she learned about it.
A close reading of the bylaw will tell you that the city can take whatever action is necessary if the property owner does not comply.
They did that with a resident who didn’t cut down natural flora on her property – they entered the property and cut down the offending plants.
There is another angle the area residents might consider. Get in touch with the Regional Medical Officer of Health – Hamidah Meghani and tell her that you think there is a public health issue here. That will get some movement.
Provincial legislation requires her to react promptly when there are public health issues. Get pictures of those rats if you can.
When Mayor Marianne Meed Ward left a city Standing Committee earlier this week she had a nod from her colleagues to have the talk she wanted to have with the Halton District Board of Education about putting students on Burlington Transit buses with a pass that made the service free to use – 24/7
There are some 4500 students who live outside the area that would qualify them for passage on a yellow school bus. Meed Ward wants them on a Burlington transit bus using a student pass that would be free and usable 24/7.
She takes that view even further – she wants transit free for everyone – 24/7.
She goes much further – she thinks transit should be a regional issues and that it should also be free.
Her argument was compelling enough for the school board trustees to pass a resolution urging the trustees, when they are meeting as a Board to make it formal and pass a motion.
Halton District School Board chair Andréa Grebenc welcomes Mayor Marianne Meed Ward to the first committee meeting of the year.
The trustees were meeting as a Committee of the Whole where they cannot pass motions. They will meet on Wednesday of next week and in all likelihood pass a motion which will have the school board more on side for the free transit idea than the city. Burlington Councillors don’t meet as a Council until the 23rd when they will have the opportunity to “make it so” as they say on Star Trek.
Mead Ward, who was invited to speak to the trustees (that would have been brought about by Trustee Leah Reynolds asking that the Mayor be invited – the two go back some distance,)
The Mayor’s pitch was twofold: she believed that getting students on buses was an environmental and an economic plus for the city.
Meed Ward told the trustees that there were some 4500 students who lived outside the area that would provide them with school bus passage. As a result parents were driving the students creating traffic chaos at most of the high schools.
The Mayor’s pitch had another angle – giving students free passes was removing barriers now in place that kept students away from opportunities to get to part time jobs, take part in extracurricular events and use the bus to explore their city.
Meed Ward told of her grade 9 experience in Kingston when she got a pass that let her go wherever she wanted on a bus. “It was really empowering” she said. “I was my own person and could go wherever the bus would take me. It helped me grow as a young person to be responsible and to be inquisitive.” She added that the service in those days was 25 cents.
Sue Connor, Director of Transit for Burlington, attended with the Mayor. The Board of Education Superintendent Roxanna Negoi, responsible for transportation, was asked how much the Board spent on bus passes and said it was between $110,000 and $120,000.
Connor, never a slouch when it comes to numbers, opened her binder and said that the public school board spent $115,500 and the Catholic Board spent $10,500.
Mayor Meed Ward knew she was talking to people her understood her language when ward 5 school board trustee Amy Collar said “This has been a long time coming.”
Milton trustee Heather Gerrits
The Board of Education is made up of representatives from the four municipalities in the Region. Donna Danielli, representing Milton, said there was a concern that some people would feel that their community doesn’t have free bus service – why should yours – and quickly added that the idea was an “incredible vision”. Heather Gerrits, also from Milton said she “loved the idea” and began talking about how she would advocate with both Milton Councillor Colin Best and Milton Mayor Gord Krantz to get Milton going on something similar.
Meed Ward said she would be happy to assist in bring the other municipalities around to the idea and would chat up the other Mayors at Regional Council meetings.
The school board trustees couldn’t do enough and the Director of Education Stuart Miller got onside by saying he would take direction from his board and believed he could have a report ready for early December that would set out what should be in the Memorandum of Understanding that would be put in place and what should be out.
Director of Education Stuart Miller.
He was thinking in terms of a high level report that would be ready for the lawyers by the end of the year.
Meed Ward said there “was no moss under our feet”. Amy Collard added “we don’t want this to sit idle”.
You could see where this was going. There is nothing a politician likes more than real forward momentum.
Now to get the public on side and to work out just where the money for those free passes is going to come from.
Sue Connor told the meeting that she has a bus that is about to be retired. She will have it done over with signage and make it an Orientation bus that will travel from school to school and be used for public education on how to use transit as well.
As the meeting was edging towards a close Meed Ward gave Connor that look that said: ‘We clinched this one’ – and indeed they had.
Someone in the room said: “Giddy Up”
Trustee Danielli added that when it come to a new idea “success begets envy”. The hope appeared to be that that envy would result in every municipality wanting free public transit.
Halton Hills unfortunately doesn’t have a transit service.
When Meed Ward moves to make transit a regional service – Halton Hills will be part of that package.
Burlington’s 2014-2018 city council could not get past their view that transit really wasn’t what people in the city wanted. They missed all the signs saying otherwise – or perhaps the signs of the times have changed.
This one has been a long time coming – and very richly deserved.
The volunteers that made the restoration of the Freeman Station possible worked hard against some really unfortunate resistance from the city council at the time.
They were never BFF but then Councillors Meed Ward and Lancaster stood up when it mattered. Here they pose with five members of the Friends of Freeman Station after the Council meeting that approved the entering into of a Joint Venture that would have the Friends moving the station and taking on the task of renovating the building.
It was then Councillors Marianne Meed Ward and Blair Lancaster that stood up to be counted and were there every step of the way as the volunteers overcame one obstacle after another.
The Mayor at the time seemed mute; two Councillors came close to conspiring to ensure that it didn’t happen; a staff civil engineer was less than truthful when she said the structure might well fall apart if any effort were made to move it.
Despite all this – a location was found, the station was successfully moved and the renovations began to take place. Hundreds of people offered memorabilia.
Telephone used by station masters,
The collection of railway lanterns is close to embarrassing – they have half a dozen key sets as well.
They have one of the receipt books that lists every package that came into the station and was shipped out from the Station.
Don Smith tells people of the days when he was a boy and would go with staff from his Dad’s funeral home to pick up new coffins that were being shipped to the then town.
A short while ago the Friends of Freeman FOFS learned that a steam engine and a tender plus two railway cars were available for the right organization.
The Friends of Freeman jumped aboard that idea and did their homework; approached council asking for some help.
They needed financial backing which they would have liked to see in the form of a grant, but if that was not possible, they would do the fundraising needed to pay the City back. A letter from the City indicating this financial support to move the equipment would form a key element of their proposal and would make it very compelling.
Council agreed to provide up to $150,000 to transport the engine and rail cars from Morrisburg, Ontario where they are a part of the St. Lawrence Parks Commission (SLPC) and are located at Crysler Park, near Morrisburg.
The SLPC has decided the equipment does not fit its mandate as it is too modern for the era they depict at Upper Canada Village, and they do not wish to restore it. They have put it out to tender with the proviso that it must go to a museum, municipality or other similar entity in Canada, for preservation. The equipment will be granted at no cost, except its removal and relocation.
It was a great opportunity with a relatively short time line. An application had to be in by October 4th. FOFS didn’t have that kind of money – they asked the city if they would backstop the funding requirement.
The station sits on private property that is a hydro right of way. Rent is $1 a year. The city owns the station – the Friends take care of it.
The city was prepared to go further than that – the recommendation out of committee was to put up the $150,000 as a grant – and then they got really generous and said that it was about time the city bought the land the Freeman Station sits on.
It can’t be used for any development – most of it is beneath a hydro right of way.
The engine – believed to have been used on one of the runs into Burlington.
The tender carried coal used to create steam to drive the four truck engine.
A passenger car that is believed to have been used during trips to Burlington.
A baggage car that could also be refrigerated.
This equipment is extremely rare, and in relatively good condition, needing only cosmetic restoration. The passenger car is so rare it may well be the only one left of its type in Canada. The locomotive served the Burlington area at one time, the refrigerated baggage car was of a type, and may have been one, that served the Freeman Station fruit platform. The passenger car may well have served Freeman Station.
FOFS has assembled a team of restoration experts and has the volunteer and sponsor base needed to restore this priceless historic railway equipment and make it, along with the station, a showpiece of which the citizens of Burlington can be proud.
They also have the land to accommodate the additions. Having restored Freeman Station and raised almost $1 million in funds, services and labour to do so, they can demonstrate to SLPC that they are a worthy candidate to receive their valued artifacts. At the present time FOFS has $30,000 available for restoration work.
The major issue is the cost of moving these large and heavy pieces to Burlington. FOFS has contacted four highly qualified and experienced movers of heavy equipment and asked each for a proposal. Three of the four have been to look at the equipment. All have given FOFS preliminary cost estimates ranging from $100,000 to $300,000. FOFS is now waiting on formal quotes and will meet with each to negotiate.
Volunteer working on the outside of the station.
The Freeman Station renovation is now virtually complete and is accepting visitors, and school trips. The station has proven to be a popular addition to the public spaces in Burlington.
They are now open Saturdays and Public Holidays and have visitor numbers typically between thirty and one hundred, with much larger crowds when they have a special event such as Doors Open. The addition of this rare railway rolling stock will add greatly to the attractiveness of Freeman Station and make it a more significant tourist attraction.
The challenge is going to be – where will the rolling stock go – they don’t want to block the view of the station.
It will draw visitors from far and wide and add to the educational experience provided by the station.
To make their proposal to SLPC credible by the deadline of October 4th, FOFS needs to demonstrate that they have the financial capability to move the equipment. Expect this to be approved at the council meeting on the 23rd.
Mayor Meed Ward may well drive to Morrisburg to present the application herself.
By Pepper Parr
They tend to tell people what they want people to hear.
