 By Ashley Worobec
August 27th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
It’s been a real juggle this week, especially to fit in my long run.
I’m leaving for a week’s vacation on Wednesday, working all day today and tomorrow, and I’m working all day today, so it had to be done really early this morning. Thankfully, my friend Sarah agreed to meet me at the crazy hour of 5:00am, and we did our 26km together.
 Garmin is a real task master. The first hour was in the dark, and for the last 1.5 hours we got to enjoy the beautiful sunrise and early morning hours. I had time for a quick shower and a quick breakfast, and off to work I went. My ever-supportive husband got up really early and drove out to meet us at both the 13km and 20km marks. He brought water and some energy gels and it was really nice to have that help – with runs that last this long, it’s very tough to carry enough water on your person.
 Compression socks -about as bright a colour one could find. Recovery is still a huge focus of mine, so I’ve been wearing my compression socks after many of my runs. I really find they help with that heavy-leg feeling I sometimes get with the longer distances. My watch keeps track of my step counts and I’m easily hitting that 10,000 steps/day default goal that Garmin sets!
Today after that 26km, I’m at 25,000 steps! I also work on my feet, so these legs are taking a beating. I’ve been getting bi-weekly massages to help my muscles stay healthy.
Not sure how my runs will pan out while I am on vacation.
We are headed to Walt Disney World (my first Disney trip, and a first for my kids as well), so if I’m feeling up to it, I’ll run a couple of times, and if I’m not, then I’ll miss the 2 runs that I’ve got scheduled next week.
 Data is critical to proper training – knowing what you’ve done and keeping track of the changes is critical to a training program that is going to have you fit for Marathon Day. I’ve fit in my long run this weekend before we go, and I’ll fit in my 28km long run next weekend after we return. The weekly long runs are the most vital part of marathon training, so it’s a juggle to prioritize those and make sure I get that mileage in.
The Gazette publisher wants me to come back with a photo of me and Mickey!
 By Pepper Parr
August 27th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
When you get back from the Labour Day vacation the federal election that has been bubbling just beneath the surface of the news cycle with the SNC Lavalin scandal taking up most of the oxygen, will become more apparent. This one has the potential to be quite nasty.
Political advertising will become more prevalent, the campaign teams will be out in force and the candidates will be seen wherever they can find an audience.
Burlington residents fall into one of three constituencies.
Burlington, Oakville Burlington North and Milton.
In the days and weeks ahead the Gazette will cover each of the three constituencies and try to keep up with what the politicians have to say.
In the Milton constituency the fight is basically between the incumbent, Lisa Raitt and a newcomer Liberal candidate Adam Van Koeverden.
If the size of the campaign offices is any indicator one could conclude that Adam Van Koeverden is going to spend his way to a win while Raitt, currently the Deputy Leader of the Progressive Conservatives, hopes to ride to a win on the basis of her record – which has a spotty past but rests on a strong voice in the House of Commons.
Both offices are on the Main Street of Milton – less than 100 yards apart.
 The Lisa Raitt campaign office in Milton  The Adam Van Koeverden campaign office in Milton. The New Democrats have yet to nominate a candidate – the Greens have one, but little has been heard of or from her.
Given the issues that concern Canadians – the Greens are viable. In Milton? Anything is possible in the world of politics – look at what the late Jack Layton did in Quebec.
The People’s Party of Canada (PPC), the band of ultra right advocates that Maxine Bernier has pulled together, form the hard right political position.
Ray Rivers, the Gazette’s political columnist, will be returning from a deserved vacation and will share his view on matters political in the weeks ahead.
The Gazette will cover each of the campaigns going forward.
 By Pepper Parr
August 25th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
Exclusive to the Burlington Gazette. Part 1 of a 3 part series.
It was a decent crowd – even for a meeting that was poorly promoted.
The outcome wasn’t all that clear – what was evident was that the audience didn’t like what they heard and that PERL, Protect the Environment and Rural Lands, the people who fought and won the last battle for Mt Nemo, was not going to lead the charge this time around.
 The current Nelson Aggregate holdings: They own the southern portion and have an option on the western portion. The green line is a property boundary; the red line is the extraction boundary. The operators of the quarry, Nelson Aggregates, had let it be known that they were preparing to make a revised application to mine for aggregate in the southern portion of the site and for the land to the west which is currently Burlington Springs Golf Club.
The Gazette met with the people speaking for the quarry operation and learned much more about the scope and scale of the new plans.
The quarry is owned by Lafarge, Canada’s largest provider of diversified construction materials and a member of the global group, LafargeHolcim. The company has 6,000 employees and 400 sites across Canada.
The operators were taken aback by the 2012 decision to not allow the application to mine on land immediately to the south of the existing quarry. The decision rested on the existence of the Jefferson Salamander that is a threatened species that habitats the area.
It was not an expected decision and resulted in a serious cut back in the number of people employed on the site.
 Walt Rickli, raising the belt on a hoist at the studio he once had on the quarry site. They needed the aggregate beneath his building – so he had to move. Walt Rickli who had a sculpture studio on the land had to find a new home for his heavy equipment – the quarry people needed every square foot of land they could get a back hoe into.
The Nelson quarry people studied the Joint Administrative Review Tribunal (JART) report and worked at how they could resolve the Jefferson Salamander problem and be able to mine the land.
They did their homework and will take their application to the Regional government, City of Burlington and the Niagara Escarpment Commission after which they have to seek a development permit. They will also be seeking a change in the zoning. Three different permits will be required plus a new license from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.
Mayor Marianne Meed Ward and the Director of Planning has said that before the city even looks at any application they want the decommission work done.
That statement, to some degree, came out of a little bit of ignorance. The license the quarry was given in the 70’s was to mine as much quarry as they wished, or could, on the clearly de-marked site.
The license the quarry has is unlimited, it does not have to be renewed but does require that the land be left as a “lake”.
The critical note attached to the license states:
 A note that is part of the license Nelson Aggregates has to mine the property on the #2 Side Road.  Land in the current quarry that has been rehabilitated. Nelson has already been very proactive in re-rehabilitating the land. When they are finished with one area they begin the rehabilitation. That work is clearly evident when you tour the property which the Gazette did last week.
Before any permit is issued Nelson is fully committed to a dialog with the community. They want to be sure that the residents in the rural area, and those south of Dundas, are fully aware of what the quarry is asking for and offering.
One has to fully understand the quarry’s position. They are in the business of mining and processing some of the best aggregate deposits in the province. They believe they have been good neighbours, which is not a view shared by some.
 Rehabilitation of the existing quarry is an ongoing task. The dark brown in the center atop the hill is land fill that has been dumped in to the land. Residents in the past have complained about the damage done by dynamite blasting. The quarry is required to limit blasting to one day a week at a specific hour. They can only blast on Thursday’s between 12:00 and 1:00 pm. As they prepare to file their applications they will do the now obligatory pre-consultations to ensure that they are complying with all the regulations and learn what they have to provide in the way of studies to ensure that the public interest is being met.
Among the studies that will have to be completed are:
Planning / ARA Site Plans –MHBC
Hydrogeological Assessment – Azimuth
Surface Water/Water Balance Assessment – C.C. Tatham
Karst Assessment – D. Worthington
Fully Integrated Groundwater and Surface Water Model – EarthFX
Natural Environment Assessment – Savanta
Agricultural Impact Assessment – MHBC
Built Heritage Assessment – MHBC
Cultural Heritage Landscape Assessment – MHBC
Archeology – Golder
Traffic Study – Paradigm
Noise Assessment – HGC
Air Quality Assessment – BCX Environmental
Blasting Assessment – Explotech
 Aggregate is mined daily on the site. Mining for aggregate is a highly regulated business. The Nelson quarry pumps water out of the site that is some 80 feet below ground level. If those pumps break down they have to immediately advise the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests and effect repairs as quickly as possible. In order to mine effectively it is vital to keep water out of the site. There are a number of catchment ponds around what is really a huge bowl that has been blasted out of the property from which aggregate has been taken.
Nelson Quarry is proposing that once they have completed the quarrying they will rehabilitate the land and turn title over to the city who will run it as a public park.
The Nelson people are going one further – they are going to create a 15 hectares lake that will have a large sandy beach. The shallow end of the lake (a little like Wasaga Beach where you can walk out for yards before the water comes up to your chest, will become a little deeper and then get quite deep..
In the application they have completed studies that show where the Jefferson Salamander lives and have undertaken to not only not mine that area but to turn it over to the city the day the agreements and zoning bylaws have been set.
The original 2004 application was on property south of #2 Side Road.
The application that will be submitted in the near future will consist of a 60% reduction in proposed extraction area from the previous application.
The revised extraction area will be designed to address the reason the Joint Board refused the previous application (Joint Board Decision 08-030 issued on October 11, 2012).
 The area to the right was part of the 2004 application. It will be given to the city the day the agreements to permit quarry work has been signed. The area to the left will be turned into a lake for the public once it has been quarried out – which will be between 7 and 10 years. In the studies and research they have done the Nelson Quarry people point out that their land holdings meet all the requirements of both the Niagara Escarpment Commission and the Region of Halton.
 This illustration is from the Regional Official Plan – the area with the pink stripes is suitable for quarrying. The recently adopted City of Burlington Official Plan (April 2018) identifies the proposed extraction areas as an “Identified Mineral Resource Area.” The adopted city plan Nelson points to was submitted to the Region and returned to the city because it didn’t comply with the Region’s plan. Burlington is in the process of revising that adopted plan.
 This illustration from the Niagara Escarpment Commission permits quarrying in the area shown in yellow. The portion of this are that Nelson wants to quarry is is shown in light blue. The sites are also mapped as a High Potential Mineral Resource Area in the Region of Halton Official Plan.
The existing Burlington Quarry represents Burlington’s only source of construction aggregate within the City.
There are three designations that apply to the land in the NEC plans: natural, protected and rural area. The Nelson properties have the designation that allows for consideration of new Mineral Resource Extraction Areas in the Niagara Escarpment Plan.
In the NEC plan the proposed extraction area is designated Escarpment Rural Area in the Niagara Escarpment Plan.
The appropriateness of this designation and objective was confirmed in the recently approved NEP (2017).
The Nelson Quarry people have done their homework and are returning with an application they feel meets all the shortcomings of the 2004 application that was decided in 2012.
They have significantly reduced the space they will mine on the south side of #2 Side Road and have added the 606 acres that make up the Burlington Springs Golf Course that will give the company enough aggregate to mine for the next 30 years after which it too will be turned over to the public.
 The lake that will be created on the south side of #2 Side Road Burlington is looking at the potential for a park that will be in the 900 + acres realm – bigger than anything most municipalities across the country have.
Nelson Aggregates will be holding an Open House on the quarry site in October and expects to have their applications in to the three levels of government sometime in November.
Just what will the park consist of? Tomorrow we will detail what we learned in our exclusive interview the people at Nelson Aggregates.
 By Pepper Parr
August 26, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
On Thursday, September 5th @ 10:30am at Rideau Hall in Ottawa Ron Foxcroft will be invested into the Order of Canada.
The ceremony will be aired live and archived on www.gg.ca/en/activities. The video is optimized for Internet Explorer.
The Foxcroft boys, Dave, Ronnie and Steve, and their Mother Marie are very proud of the honour that is being conferred on their Father, but for Ron this is just part of the gig.
 Queen Elizabeth II, in her capacity as Colonel-in-Chief of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada, receives Colonel Ronald Foxcroft (Honorary Colonel) at Buckingham Palace in London. A number of years ago he was presented to Queen Elizabeth II as the Honorary Colonel of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada. The Queen is the Honorary General of the Regiment.
 The Gardens at the rear of Buckingham Palace where Canada Geese are reported to poop. The Queen now has a Foxcroft whistle to scare them off. Ron, for those who know him well, can get quite chatty. The Queen’s equerries, who were standing stiffly in the receiving room while Ron was talking to the Queen were aghast when Ron pulled a Fox 40 whistle out of his pocket and assured the Queen that one hearty blow on his whistle would scare off the Canada Geese on her lawn. The Queen had complained to Ron earlier that the geese we pooping all over her lawn.
If she’d been able to the Queen might well have made Foxcroft an Admiral on the spot for his service to the Queen. She had no love for those geese.
 The whistle that made Ron Foxcroft rich and famous – will he put one in the hand of the Governor General when he is made a member of the Order of Canada in September? With him accepting an award is his wife Marie. Having the ribbon, which holds the Order of Canada medal, placed around his neck by Governor General Julie Payette will give Ron a chance to invite her to a Hamilton Tiger Cats game. What are the chances that he will find a way to give her a silver plated whistle? Bet on it.
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order and the second highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada. It comes second only to membership in the Order of Merit, which is the personal gift of Canada’s monarch.
To coincide with the centennial of Canadian Confederation, the three-tiered order was established in 1967 as a fellowship that recognizes the outstanding merit or distinguished service of Canadians who make a major difference to Canada through lifelong contributions in every field of endeavour, as well as the efforts by non-Canadians who have made the world better by their actions.
By Staff
August 26th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
A Gazette reader writes to tell us that “If you take Burlington Transit one of the most useful apps, was being able to see where your bus was while you wait with the NEXT BUS option. You could see where your bus was via GPS.
Burlington Transit has discontinued this service due to “technical issues”. The reader thinks this is BS.
 Gazette reader wants to know why existing technology is no longer available to riders. “I am sure the bus location is still known as this is what the transit executive is looking at … they have just dropped this service because they don’t want to support it anymore.
“If this is a service improvement it is just double speak in absolute Brave New World terms.”
Before we reach out to the transit people: Do you use the transit app?
By Staff
August 23rd, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
Burlington has learned that it can expect two more potential cannabis retail stores; one at 1505 Guelph Line and another at 1025 Plains Rd. E.
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission requires these new locations to provide proof of lease and the potential location for the store.
Once the Province gives notice that the opportunity for commenting is open, the City of Burlington will submit its feedback.
 Mayor has always been a staunch supporter of cannabis stores. In a Statement release by the Mayor’s Office earlier today she explained that, “previously proposed stores have been more than the Provincially-mandated 150 metres away from a school or other locations of concern, including parks, pools, arenas, libraries or recreation centres. They have also been located along transit routes and near the QEW/Hwy. 403.
“Of the two newly proposed locations, the one at 1025 Plains Rd. E. continues to meet the Province’s requirements and the City’s approved criteria.
 High school is considered too close to the proposed cannabis store. “The other newly proposed location, however, does not. While the proposed address of 1505 Guelph Line is more than 150 metres from nearby M.M. Robinson High School, it does not meet the set of criteria for locations and other considerations regarding cannabis stores we approved at Burlington City Council, nor the resolution brought forward by the subcommittee of the Large Urban Mayors Caucus of Ontario (LUMCO) that I sit on with three other mayors – two from jurisdictions that do not allow cannabis stores, and two that do.
“That resolution recommended changes to provincial regulations to give municipalities greater control over locations and proliferation of stores and was approved by LUMCO and forwarded to the province.
“Both documents mentioned above state that a store should strive to maintain a minimum 500 metres buffer distance from sensitive land uses like schools. The potential location on Guelph Line should not be one where we have a cannabis store in our city.”
Meed Ward has always been a staunch supporter of cannabis retail stores and “continues to support regulated cannabis stores in Burlington to give our residents safe, legal access to this product, and help combat black market sales.
“In consultation with the Halton Regional Police Service during the decision-making process, I learned that cannabis products purchased outside a regulated market are sometimes laced with illegal drugs, such as opioids. I also heard directly from residents, including many seniors, who have switched to cannabis for pain management and have gotten off opioids that are highly addictive and lethal.
“Nevertheless, myself and other mayors across Ontario will continue to advocate for additional regulatory controls over the location and number of stores within our cities. The City of Burlington will continue to monitor and report on any newly proposed locations as they arise.”
 Shawna Stolte – voted against cannabis stores  Angelo Bentivegna voted against cannabis stores. The Burlington council cannabis vote was: Mayor Meed Ward, Councillors Galbraith, Kearns, Nisan and Sharman voted for the motion – Stolte and Bentivegna voted against.
 By Pepper Parr
August 23, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
Ooops!
A portion of a sentence was left off the paragraph about the pipeline that runs through the centre of the city that was mentioned in the story on the Construction Management procedures that will be in place for the building of the condominium opposite city hall.
In explaining the traffic congestion that was going to take place in the downtown core at the same time two high rise condominiums were to be built we left out the detail about remediation work being done to the pipeline that runs through the city – it carries fuel for aircraft at the Hamilton airport. No specific date on when that work will start.
 Transit traffic will come down Brant and swing onto James and then go south on John.  Cement and dump trucks will come south on John street, drive on to the site and then continue down John to Brant when they have off loaded The public was told that Lakeshore Road will close for a period of time while repair work on the surface is done.
Detail on what the flow of traffic would be during the 30 month construction period that The Gallery, the 23 story condominium that will be built opposite city hall, was released.
Cement trucks and dump trucks will compete with buses and private automobile for room on Brant, John and James Street.
 An aerial rendering of how the condominium will fit into the corner of Brant and James – with city hall across the street. It will be interesting to see how the Santa Claus parade winds its way through that part of the city in December.
 By Staff
August 23, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
Homicide detectives with the Halton Regional Police Service have laid charges in relation to a homicide that took place in Burlington on August 21, 2019.
Kenneth SOEDERHUYSEN (57) of Burlington is charged with First Degree Murder.
SOEDERHUYSEN appeared in Milton court yesterday.
The victim has been identified as Laura GRANT (57) of Burlington.
The accused and the victim were married at the time of the incident, and both resided at 2244 No. 2 Side Road where the incident took place.
The police are encouraging anyone with additional information regarding this incident and/or investigation to call the Halton Regional Police Service Homicide Tip Line at 905-825-4776.
Tips can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers “See something? Hear something? Know something? Contact Crime Stoppers” at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.ca.
Related news story.
Police investigating a homicide on #2 SideRoad
By Pepper Parr
August t 22nd, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
 Lisa Kearns waiting for a question from the audience. Lisa Kearns, Councillor for ward 2 was back before her constituents again – it was the second week in a row that she stood before an audience and took them through the intricacies of Construction Management and Traffic control during construction projects..
Last week the meeting was related to the Adi Nautique development at the corner of Lakeshore and Marsha where the audience learned that the construction timeline is about 30 months.
This time it was the Carnacelli development opposite city hall – where the time line is 30 months. The 23 storey development, known commercially as The Gallery also has a new address – because the entrance is going to be on James they are using the municipal address of 2011 James to identify the development – not to confuse people who follow this type of thing.
 The property to the left of the site has been approved for 17 storeys – they have appealed asking for 23 stories to match The Gallery development. The Centro Garden is on the extreme right. The two developments are less than a km apart and will be under construction at about the same time.
Carriage Gate, the developers of the project, announced that they expect to begin demolition sometime immediately after Labour Day.
At about the same tine Lakeshore Road will be closed for a period of between eight and twelve weeks for road improvement work.
The audience was also advised that a pipeline that runs right through the city coming in from the Beachway along Elgin Street and running through the rear of the Mayrose Tayco property at the north end of the Elizabeth Street parking lot is scheduled to have some major remediation done – no specific dates were given.
Chaos is the word that best describes what is going to take place in the city.
The objective is to manage that chaos as professionally as possible. Kearns was in the room explain that everything was going to be fine – there were protocols and procedures in place to handle every situation.
Drawings were displayed showing where the trucks that will haul away the material from the demolished site and where the concrete trucks would be staged while they were waiting to enter the site, disgorge the concrete and move on so that the next truck could come in.
Cement and dump truck movement plan. Transit movement plan. The public will not lose the use of the Brant Street or James Street – the areas where construction is taking place will be covered so that pedestrians are safe.
Kearns assured the audience that she would be on top of it all – her office on the eighth floor of city hall overlooks the site.
Concern about the noise, the dust and the traffic flow were not as important as to where the trades people working on the site were going to park. The Carnacelli interests on the property the Berkeley was built on and the land to the north where there was to be a parking lot and a medical building that would front on Caroline – that space will be used for parking in the early stages. Mark Bales who is overseeing the project did announce that the corporation had arranged to rent about 40 parking spots from the city – which didn’t go down all that well with the area residents or those with retail operations in the immediate area.
 Timeline for the construction and completion of The Gallery opposite city hall. People wanted to know how many trucks would be in the area – they were told seven to nine which was later bumped up to 12. They will be driving in and out of the site from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm.
The audience was told that there could be anywhere between seven and seventy workers on the site at any one time.
Kearns has worked with Transportation department people and has, she said, gone as high as the City Manager to resolve some of the issues. The City is in the process of creating a Construction Management Plan that will be in place for future developments.
Kearns said that given the developments that are in line at the Planning department the city is looking at three, five perhaps even seven years of downtown construction.
There then came a point in the meeting when Kearns decided all the questions had been asked and answered and it was time to wrap it up.
The audience got the “bums rush” and those who had questions could hang around.
 By Pepper Parr
August 22, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
 For most of us – corn on the cob is something that is a summer-time favourite.
Boiled or roasted in tin foil, then slathered in butter with salt and pepper added – it just can’t get much better than that.
Sympathy for those whose dental apparatus limits what they can enjoy,
 Corn is an amazing plant. Did you know that each strand of corn silk on a cob is connected to a single corn kernel.
As the cob grows on the stalk, the hanging strands collect pollen that falls from the tassel at the top.
The silk grabs the pollen and sends it down to its kernel, which is waiting to be fertilized.
Now that is both neat and an assurance that a force bigger than all of us has everything in hand.
By Staff
August 21st, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
Shortly after 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 21, 2019, the Halton Regional Police Service received a call from within a residence at 2244 No. 2 Side Road in Burlington regarding a shooting at that location.
Uniform, K9 and Tactical officers responded to the scene and one male party was quickly taken into custody.
A female was located at the residence with traumatic injuries and in spite of all efforts, was pronounced deceased.
No. 2 Side Road was subsequently closed to traffic and will remain closed between Guelph Line and Cedar Springs Road for several hours. We encourage local residents to continue to avoid the area.
There is no known, ongoing, related threat to public safety.
This incident is being investigated as a homicide. It is believed that the accused and the victim are known to each other.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the Halton Regional Police Service Homicide Tip Line at 905-825-4776.
Tips can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers “See something? Hear something? Know something? Contact Crime Stoppers” at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.ca.
 By Pepper Parr
August 21st, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
They gather every year for an annual conference – an event that lets the municipal sector talk to the provincial ministers about what’s coming down the pipe.
In Ontario the municipalities are creatures of the province; their names and their boundaries can be changed at the whim of the Premier.
The province has made it very clear that they want to reduce the $11 billion debt that the Liberals left when they were basically wiped out electorally by the Progressive Conservatives.
When that last happened we all thought Mike Harris was a disaster – now we get to see Doug Ford up close and in person and we learn what a disaster really is.
 Minister Clark. Steve Clark, the Minister of Municipalities spoke at the AMO conference to talk about what he had in mind. He spoke the day after the Premier who made it clear that there were major cuts coming, what the province was going to pay for and what the municipalities were going to have to come up with.
It looked as if the Premier was going to find the money to pay down the provincial debt by forcing the municipalities to pick up more of the freight for the services they deliver.
Moody’s debt rating service said they thought the damage would amount to a $2 billion hit to the municipal sector.
Clark sugar coated everything his Ministry was going to do – it sounded like sunshine and lollipop pops or a verse from The Big Rock Candy Mountain.
It wasn’t until the very end of his speech that we got to see the sleeper – amalgamation is going to take place despite what Burlington’s MPP said.
Clark said: “At last year’s conference, I announced we would be reviewing the regional government system. It’s been in place for almost 50 years — and we wanted local input on how to improve governance, decision-making and service delivery.
 Michael Fenn “I’ve been unequivocal from day one and stated throughout the review — we have no preconceived outcomes” and added that “Ken Seiling and Michael Fenn are finalizing their recommendations — over 8,500 submissions and close to 100 in-person presentations were received — an overwhelming response — and I look forward to receiving their report.
“I’ll have more to say this fall. For now, I want to thank everyone who participated.”
Not so fast Minister.
 Ken Seiling When Seiling and Fenn were at Halton Region listening to delegations they mentioned that the event was their last stop and that they were ready to distill what they had heard into a report they would give the Minister by the end of July.
The concern for many at the Halton event was – would the report be made public. Seiling pointed out that they had been asked to do the work by the Minister and that the report would be given to the Minister – he would decide if and when it was to be made public.
There were delegations on how well the Region of Halton operated. Ken Seilling challenged an Oakville delegation that suggested the financial impact was going to be severe if there was any kind of amalgamation in Halton.
At the end of July we heard that the report would not be released until after the federal election.
 This Regional Council consists of ward representatives plus the Mayor from each municipality. Far too many people for Doug Ford’s liking. Yesterday we learned that it will not be on the table until next year.
Most people believe the report has been completed; that the Minister has read it and decided what the government will be doing.
It will have been discussed at Cabinet and there may well be bureaucrats creating new maps.
 Will these municipalities get down graded to being a ward in a city? Will Halton and it’s four municipalities be organized into something called the City of Halton? Far too early to know – what we do know is that Premier Ford is not shy when it comes to downsizing local government.
When he was in Oakville speaking to the Chambers of Commerce from the four municipalities, he was recognizing people in the audience. As he was reading out the names of those from Oakville he paused and said: “Boy, you’ve got a lot of people on that council.” The feeling that rippled across the Burlington Convention Centre was palpable.
Doug Ford thinks a Board of 7 to 9 people is what corporations need and he sees municipalities as corporate structures. Having people at the table who can effectively represent a community is not the role Ford sees for a politician.
His approach is to do it all himself. At that same event he read out his cell number and said ‘you can call me anytime’.
Doug Ford does not understand local politics, doesn’t respect the needs of communities at the grass roots level.
Expect the worst and hope that the very real representation problems in the Niagara Region get the attention they need and that Halton is left alone.
The Gazette got some comments from a former Ontario civil servant who served in several ministries who told us that he “would be very surprised if Clark has not been thoroughly briefed on what the report contains and its main recommendations. “
Our source added that he would “not be the least surprised if there was not some attempt to shape the main recommendations and right from the beginning of the process.
 Minister of Municipalities Steve Clark: Already fully briefed? “Ministers never “receive” anything that they’ve formally commissioned until they’re ready. They are briefed at regular intervals so that there are ‘no surprises and the final report is an anti-climax at best.
“Well in advance of the formal transmission of the Fenn/Seiling report a fulsome communications strategy will have been developed, ready for precise deployment like the Normandy invasion.”
That invasion of citizen rights looks as if it is going to take place sometime early in the New Year.
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.
Related new stories:
We Love Burlington delegates
Background on the Provincial Review of Regional governments
Edwardh describes Provincial Review as very limited
 By Vince Fiorito
August 20th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
I agree with Doreen Nicol’s recent Burlington Gazette article.
City policy appears to harass people doing their part to fight climate change, the biodiversity crisis and environmental toxification problems.
Not only do Burlington’s current property standard by-laws appear to conflict with City Council’s recent climate change emergency declaration, they may also conflict with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as the Species At Risk Act.
Imagine if Canada’s Group of Seven artists were held to the same standards as Burlington’s property standard bylaw, and they could only paint landscapes that were dominated by neatly mowed lawns.
 Landscape design, like painting, is an art form, which is protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  World class examples of native species based landscape designs, that would violate Burlington’s current property standards by-laws. Burlington’s by-laws and policies currently empower people who don’t understand or deny the existence of serious environmental problems. These people will pressure untrained city staff to mow what appears to them to be weedy unkempt looking lawns. Burlington residents shouldn’t have to fight with the city to be responsible stewards of the Earth. Some of them will inevitably take the city to court and seek damages and compensation.
 Urban monarch butterfly If city staff fail to recognize habitat for endangered species (Milkweed for Monarch Butterflies or New Jersey Tea for Mottled Duskywing Butterfly),then their actions could violate the Species At Risk Act and the city could risk fines up to $1,000,000
Also, modernizing and upgrading city property standards policies and by-laws, should include solutions to long term neglected environmental problems.
City policies and by-laws must encourage and assist property owners to clean up old dumpsites ASAP, like this one contaminated with old pesticide and petrochemical containers behind Creek Way in The Orchard.
 Located next to Sheldon Creek along the South Service Road, between Appleby and Burloak.  Current City property standards also ignore dangerous derelict buildings. City property standards allow local businesses to dump industrial effluent into our watersheds with impunity. The above has been reported repeatedly to all levels of government, and is legal. Residents living down stream from environmental problems must have a right to know.
They should not have to use the Freedom of Information Act to access information that the city be collecting and sharing. Ignorance isn’t bliss for children playing or fishing downstream.
 Rainbow Trout caught 200M downstream from the Harvester storm sewer  Chinook Salmon aught in Sheldon Creek near New Street – about 1km downstream from Harvester sewer.  Harvester storm sewer Burlington must modernize and upgrade city policies to solve climate change, the biodiversity crisis and environmental toxification problems.
The city must have policies to inform residents of reported problems that may affect them and pressures property owners to remediate serious environmental problem or face punitive measures.
Burlington must protect and create habitat for the Halton region’s 48 endangered species, manage the health and improve the vitality of the city’s ravines and wildlife corridor system, give Burlington residents a “Right to Know” about local environmental problems and make polluters pay to clean up their messes.
This issue is an opportunity for city council and Burlington residents to treat the climate change emergency as an emergency.
No one should have to fight with the city to prevent future generations from inheriting a resource depleted dying planet.
 Vince Fiorito is a Burlington Resident and Founder of Friends of Sheldon Creek. He has also been named the Steward of Sheldon Creek by Conservation Halton.
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By Staff
August 20th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
The Halton Regional Police Service found that working with its media made it possible for residents to be reunited with their stolen property.
On August 16, 2019, a Hamilton resident learned about the recovery results that came out of the arrest the Regional police made on July 4th.
 Much of a currency collection was recovered by police. Investigators in Burlington – 3 District Criminal Investigations Bureau were contacted and later reunited the victim with over 95% of the recovered stolen property.
Investigators are currently liaising with Hamilton Police and further charges are pending.
The remaining property can be seen by clicking here:
Anyone who may have additional information concerning this investigation is asked to contact Detective Constable Jacques Brunelle of the 3 District Criminal Investigations Bureau at 905-825-4747 ext. 2334 or the 3 District Criminal Investigations Bureau general line at 905-825-4747 ext. 2316.
Tips can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers “See Something? Hear Something? Know Something? Contact Crime Stoppers” at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), or through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.ca.
In the original media release the Halton Regional Police Service advised the public that they had arrested a suspect attempting to gain entry into the Kings Carwash located at 1448 Grahams Lane in Burlington. At the time of the arrest a large quantity of jewelry believed to be stolen was recovered and remains unaccounted for.
Bradley MARK (37) of no fixed address was charged with
• Break and Enter with intent
• Possession of Break in instruments
• Possession of property obtained by Crime
• Fail to comply with probation order
He was held pending a bail hearing.
By Pepper Parr
August 20th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
 Jane McKenna yuks it up with guests at the Joseph Brant hospital annual meeting. A few months earlier, before she was elected, she wasn’t allowed to take part in a meeting with the Liberal Minister who was at the hospital to deliver a cheque.  Several reports say that Burlington MPP Jane McKenna has forsaken Twitter.
Probably a smart move – it wasn’t working all that well for her anyway.
Question is – did she do it herself or was she told to stay quiet?
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.
By Pepper Parr
August 20th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
When the Premier tried to download the costs of a number of services onto the municipalities some time ago, there was an uproar – they had already set their budgets and their tax rates – wasn’t possible to change at that point.
The Ford government relented; everyone knew they would be introducing the plans again – and they did – yesterday at the AMO conference taking place in Ottawa.
Child-care and health-care advocates are slamming the provincial government’s plan to go ahead with some of its controversial municipal funding cuts next year.
Despite some extra time before funding is slashed, the news was not welcome.
The cuts are real and they create “uncertainty, stress for families and sort of chaos at the municipal level across the province as they try to scramble to figure out what’s happening.”
 Premier Doug Ford addressing the municipal sector on Monday. Ford said some of this year’s planned cuts — to public health, child care and land ambulance funding — will take effect Jan. 1.
“We recognize our government moved quickly when we came into office to address our inherited challenges. But we’ve listened to you.”
Moody’s, the bond rating service, said the cuts will blow $2-billion hole in municipal budgets which will raise the cost of borrowing. Halton Regional Carr might not be able to brag about having the great credit rating the Region has had for more than a decade.
Prior to the changes announced by the Ford government last spring, municipalities had varying public health cost-sharing arrangements with the province — with Ontario paying 100 per cent or 75 per cent in some cases.
The new plan will see all municipalities pay 30 per cent of public health care costs.
The chair of Toronto’s board of health, said “officials are trying to figure out what the full financial impact of the cuts will be — but he was adamant that the cuts would amount to tens of millions of dollars annually for the city.”
 Aerial view of the Regional offices located in Oakville. Commissioners at the Region will be running their numbers when they get back to their offices – it is not going to be a pretty picture.
“As is too often the case with this provincial government, they make announcements first and provide details later.”
Starting on Jan. 1, municipalities will also have to pay 20 per cent of the cost of creating new child-care spaces, which the province previously fully funded.
Some cuts to funding for administrative child-care costs are being delayed until 2021 and others are being delayed to 2022.
Ford also said land ambulance funding will increase by four per cent.
The province is dealing with an $11 billion deficit, the highest sovereign debt of any government.
Just about all the Mayors “recognize and appreciate the challenges the government of Ontario faces in getting its deficit under control”. However, this must be done in a prudent, collaborative manner that does not impact the services that people rely on each and every day.”
A former city of Toronto Councillor said: “Make no mistake, these cuts will hurt people. They are short-sighted and they are wrong.”
Regional Chair and the CAO are going to have to confer with their commissioners to figure out how to deal with the funding cuts announced by the Ford government.
 Regional Chair Gary Carr  Regional CAO Jane MacCaskill For weeks, the premier and his cabinet ministers had defended the cuts as necessary to tackle an urgent financial situation and said municipalities needed to do their part, as the recipients of a large share of provincial dollars. The government is trying to eliminate an $11.7 billion deficit.
AMO president Jamie McGarvey, who introduced Ford at the event Monday, said municipalities understand the province’s goals and urged the government to work with civic leaders.
“We cannot achieve these things with abrupt, unilateral changes and it will take more than simple belt tightening to make things better,” McGarvey said. “Working together, we can avoid unnecessary turmoil, and respect the essential front line-services that our governments deliver.”
The services that are going to be hit by funding cuts are for the most part delivered by the Regional government.
The tax rate that is set by a municipality includes taxes levied by the Region and the Boards of Education.
 By Pepper Parr
August 20th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
How much of their own money did 2018 election candidates put up?
Some surprises.
 Paul Sharman taking part in a ward 5 election debate. Got a free ride financially. Sharman contributed $0 to his own campaign! The $250 shown was the value of old election signs he used in his 2014 election campaign.
 Running in ward 6 where she held the seat in 2010 ans 2014 Lancaster chose not to spend any of her own money – and lost by 41 votes. Lancaster also contributed $0 to her own campaign! The $180 shown was the value of old election signs she used in her 2014 election campaign.
Mike Wallace took the gamble of his life and put up $25,000 of his own money.
The following people reported 0 campaign donations:
Garry Milne, Andrew Jordan, Jason Boelhouwer, Gerard Shkuda and Michael Jones.
The following candidates failed to file election spending reports. They will not be permitted to run in the next municipal election. Walter Wiebe, Peter Rusin and Darcy Hutzel.
The data used was taken from the election finance returns filed by the candidates. Any errors or commissions will be corrected. Some of the forms were hand-written and very difficult to read.
 By Doreen Nicol
August 20th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
The Gazette became aware of this situation earlier today.
You won’t know whether to laugh or cry. When things go amuck at city hall – they really go amuck.
The Mayor and much of Council is in Ottawa at the AMO conference – the Deputy Mayor is your best hope at this point to put a stop to this stupidity. Send an email to the Deputy Mayor and ask her to put a stop to this bit of nonsense.
On April 23, Burlington city council unanimously passed Ward 3 Councillor Rory Nisan’s motion to declare a climate emergency.
“By declaring a climate emergency, Burlington City Council is recognizing the magnitude of the challenge we face in combating climate change,” Nisan said in a press release. “But it is only one step. Through the declaration, we have requested a comprehensive climate action plan by the end of the year and that plan is where we will begin to make real, practical change for Burlington.”
According to local environmentalist Vince Fiorito, “Given the context of the city declaring a climate change emergency, noisy, smelly, green house gas emitting lawn mowers and leaf blowers should be discouraged.”
But a Burlington resident and her family are finding that the city is not living up to its promises. The resident in question has cultivated a naturalized garden area in their front yard to encourage genetic diversity, support native species, and create a supportive habitat for a variety of insects and local wildlife.
 A natural garden has the by-law enforcement people doing their duty. Fearing retribution from neighbours, I was asked to not use this resident’s real name so we’ll call her Antheia, after the goddess of flowers.
Antheia says, “I have been maintaining a naturalized area since 2015 and the City of Burlington has repeatedly told me I am in violation of the by-laws despite the by-laws allowing for naturalized areas. Every year they mischaracterize my naturalized area as a lawn and demand that I cut everything down to less than 8 inches or they will come and do it themselves and charge me.”
When the city inspected Antheia’s property in 2015, it took no action. In 2016, the city inspected the property again and issued a non-compliance notice. Antheia informed the city that she was maintaining a naturalized area as defined by bylaw No. 12-2011 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.”
Antheia was informed by email and phone that the city could not qualify her property as a naturalized area, and that municipal employees would cut her plants to the required height for lawns of less than eight inches.
When city workers arrived to cut Antheia’s naturalized area, she called the police. The attending officers asked the workers to leave Antheia’s property. The officers left without incident and no further action was taken that year.
Then in 2017, without any notice, the city trespassed on Antheia’s property while she was not home and decimated the entire naturalized area. Milkweed, wild flowers, native species — many of which were perennials — and a bush were all cut to the required height for a lawn of less than eight inches. This effectively destroyed the portions of the garden needed by monarch butterflies, pollinators, birds, and small animals.
In 2018, the city made significant changes to the lot maintenance bylaw and replaced the law under which Antheia’s garden had been decimated, No. 12-2011, with new bylaw No. 59-2018. Antheia retained a lawyer to tell city workers to understand that she was maintaining a naturalized area. That summer the city took no action.
Things were looking good for Antheia’s case in 2019 after a bylaw enforcement officer deemed her property a naturalized area. But just a couple of weeks later, a second bylaw enforcement officer issued a non-compliance notice that mischaracterized the naturalized area as a lawn. Antheia was once again threatened with the destruction of her entire naturalized area.
Through discussions with a supervisor, Antheia was assured her property could be maintained as a naturalized area and was in fact in compliance. Yet, one month later, after allegedly receiving many complaints from neighbors, the city sent Antheia a letter demanding she cut everything — all the same plants that were in her yard when the city had deemed it in compliance — to less than eight inches.
Supported by countless research studies and anecdotal observations from native species gardeners, Antheia is absolutely right when she asserts, “Natural deep-rooted plants, like the ones on my property, are vital to helping the climate crisis. The deep roots from perennial species bring the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere down into the soil where it is locked away and stored. Each year I have seen many monarch butterflies drinking the nectar from, and laying their eggs on, the milkweed on my property. At a time when pollinator species are at risk, the city should be encouraging naturalized areas not trying to destroy them.”
Lawns are butterfly and pollinator deserts. But Canadians have been indoctrinated to believe that only a high maintenance manicured lawn of grass with a few strategically placed continuously flowering, non-native plants is acceptable landscaping.
Fiorito points out, “Landscape design is an art form. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects our right to freedom of artistic expression. The lawn and garden industry creates perceptions of problems where none exist to sell us their expensive solutions, many of which are real environmental problems.”
According to Fiorito, it’s hard to justify protecting lawns and not naturalized areas, “Given the current global biodiversity crisis and the fact that none of Halton Region’s 48 species at risk of extinction require grass to exist and thrive. Supporting lawns that take up space that could be better used to create habitat for local endangered species is hard to justify.”
So, it’s time that environmentalists, naturalized gardeners, and those people who want to leave a better world — one where there is hope for a future — to take a stand. Let the City of Burlington know that being given the distinction of being declared the No. 1 city in Canada by Maclean’s comes with responsibilities. Those responsibilities include living up to its commitment to address the climate emergency. Accepting and encouraging residents to embrace naturalized gardens — with their low carbon footprints, genetic diversity, and supportive ecosystems — is one small step towards fulfilling that commitment.
For everyone who wants to help save Antheia’s naturalized area before the city cuts it down on August 20 and for those who want to nudge Burlington closer to meeting the meteoric goal of taking a first step to putting the brakes on the climate crisis, here is the email address for the Deputy city manager – she may be the only person at city hall able to do something this week. Tanner can be reached at: marylou.tanner@burlington.ca
To inspire those of you who may be hesitant to help out, read my blog from last July when readers from across the country came together to let Burlington know that I shouldn’t have to remove my milkweed from my garden. One week later, the bylaw in question was changed.
 Doreen Nicoll is a freelance writer, teacher, social activist, and member of several community organizations working diligently to end poverty, hunger and gendered violence. she has had her share of run ins with the city.
Related news story:
Writer beats back city efforts to remove milkweed from her garden.
By Staff
August 19th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
A picture is said to be worth 1,000 words – How about $84,000?
 Food and funds – The Gift of Giving Back is both a lesson in civility and an opportunity to help others for Burlington students. That’s the amount raised by the Gift of Giving Back, a program that has been part of Burlington since 2005 and is now the largest such program in the country.
The total along with the presentation cheque and the obligatory photo op was sent out by the Mayor today.
Kudos to the people that make the program work.
 An astonishing record of community service on the part of the young athletes who do all the grunt work. Originally launched by the Burlington Eagles, the campaign has grown to include more than 85 male and female youth hockey teams from: The Burlington Girls Hockey Club (Barracudas), Burlington Eagles, as well as the Burlington Gymnastics Club.
Teams will be out in neighbourhoods across Burlington in the fall dropping off their iconic blue bags. If you receive one, please give generously as the food goes right to people in our community in need. Athletes are also tagging at various grocery store locations and can be identified with the Gift of Giving Back signs.
By Staff
August 19th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
Those good folks at “We Love Burlington” believe, as do many municipal leaders and other community groups, that amalgamation is not only “on the table”, but likely was never off it.
 Perhaps the strategy of throwing so many pieces of legislation out at once is meant to make it impossible to keep up with all of them, and impossible to study each one carefully. This seems to be the theme of the provincial government to date.
 They really took a piece of Legislation from the Order Paper to the pen of the Lieutenant Governor in 31 days. There was Bill 5, which carried the amendments to the Municipal Act, the Municipal Elections Act and the City of Toronto Act (an omnibus bill) which allowed Premier Ford to reduce the size of Toronto Council in the midst of the 2018 Municipal election. We have written extensively (as have many others) about the disastrous “Developers’ Dream Bill”, Bill 108, which went from First Reading to Royal Assent in only 31 days, and as one municipal leader recently aptly put it to us “the outrages with the Bill are so numerous, you get numb.”
These are illustrative of the unilateral power over municipal structures and governance that the province can and is wielding. They are also examples of what the province can easily do to effect regional restructuring.
On August 8th, Premier Ford was in Fonthill and at an impromptu press conference, stated that amalgamation is going ahead in Ontario. The following was taken from a QP Briefing article that was published in the Toronto Star later that day: “A freewheeling Premier Doug Ford gave a clear indication that some Ontario municipalities can expect amalgamation in the near future. The premier decried the number of politicians in the Niagara Region as he spontaneously chose to field questions from reporters at an announcement in Fonthill.
 On this occasion the Premier was helping a child blow bubbles – most of the time many think he is just blowing smoke. When asked by a local reporter about the potential amalgamation that could affect the Niagara region and many other Ontario municipalities, Ford led off by saying it’s under review by Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark, but then outlined what outcome makes sense to him. “Minister Clark is going to be rolling that out over the next little while,” But then Ford said that he would prefer fewer politicians, based on what he’s heard from residents. “Go door-knocking in the area. It’s almost comical. You’ve got 136 politicians for 400,000 people. Something’s wrong,” said the premier.
The premier argued it’s a matter of saving money. “That’s just wasting taxpayers’ money. But I have all the confidence in the world in Minister Clark to straighten out any of those issues, and make sure we respect the taxpayers and run a leaner, more efficient government,” he said. He added that residents have told him they don’t like the number of politicians they have. “I’ve heard it from them — they aren’t too happy about that.”
Interesting as well was the comment made by the Premier when he addressed the Halton Chambers of Commerce at a Burlington event.
As he was reading out the names of the municipal Councillors in the room he paused as he was going through the list of those from Oakville and said: “Gee you got a lot of council members in Oakville.”
There was a palpable shudder that went through the room.
Study after study, including the 2015 Fraser Report that studied Ontario amalgamations (https://www.fraserinstitute.org/research/municipal-amalgamation-ontario) say that in fact, prior Ontario amalgamations resulted in “significant increases in property taxes, remuneration and long-term debt.” We attach, for those who may not have seen it before, the text of our delegation to the regional reviewers in May, which outlines our concerns more specifically. The continued downloading onto municipalities does not serve the citizenry; there is only one taxpayer.
This week the core of basically every municipality in the province is in Ottawa at the AMO conference. We are aware of one Halton municipal Councillor who is “taking the Missus” with him – there is a man who knows how to have a good time.
The Ministry of Municipal Affairs announced that the Minister will be addressing the AMO crowd; Councillors will be listening with baited breath.
 The Lovelies: Debra Rouse, Lynn Crosby, Blair Smith and Josie Wagstaffe after a visit to Queen’s Park
The Lovelies (a colloquial description for the We Love Burlington band of advocates) believe that “the threat of amalgamation is very real and that new mapping of the 82 municipalities is already being carried out. We believe that there will either be amalgamation of our four Halton municipalities (Burlington, Oakville, Milton, Halton Hills) into the City of Halton, with likely only six councillors and a mayor for a population of 600,000 people (the same ratio of councillors to citizens that the City of Toronto now has, and which aligns with Premier Ford’s recent comments that in the corporate world, an ideal size of a board of directors is 7 to 9) or that the provincial government will maintain the local identities, but take away much of the local authority. This in effect would have much the same result as full amalgamation.”
Steve Clark: Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. It will be interesting to hear what the Minister has to say on Wednesday and whether or not his views align with the report due from the Provincial Review panel that listened to all the municipalities and have a report that was to be released in July.
The release date was moved back until after the federal election in October.
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