 By Staff
March 31st, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
 The snowfall in the Escarpment was a lot heavier than in the urban areas on the weekend – that snow is going to melt and work its way through the 13 creaks that run though Burlington to Lake Ontario.
Conservation Halton advises that a Low Pressure System has already brought upwards of 30mm of rainfall to our area with numerical weather models suggesting an additional 20mm of rain mixed with some wet snow could fall this evening, overnight, and into tomorrow morning.
The rainfall combined with the high soil moisture conditions has resulted in increased flows and water levels in many of our creeks, which are now near bank full capacity. Flow and water level increases are expected to continue into tomorrow, particularly in our larger watercourse systems (Grindstone, Sixteen Mile and Bronte Creeks).
Widespread flooding is not anticipated. Our reservoirs are still in range of our seasonal holding levels and have storage capacity available. However, fast flowing water and flooding of low lying areas and natural floodplains may be expected. Municipalities, emergency services and individual landowners in flood-prone areas should be on alert.
Conservation Halton is asking all residents and children to keep a safe distance from all watercourses and structures such as bridges, culverts and dams. Elevated water levels, fast flowing water, and slippery conditions along stream banks continue to make these locations extremely dangerous. Please alert children in your care of these imminent dangers.
 Conservation Halton will continue to monitor stream flow and weather conditions and will issue further messages as necessary. This Flood Outlook Statement will be in effect through Monday April 1st, 2019.
 By Pepper Parr
March 28th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
The Red Tape got a little sticky this morning.
During the address she gave to the Chamber of Commerce crowd on the State of the City, Mayor Marianne Meed Ward told the audience she was going to do something about the complaints she was hearing about problems at city hall.
In her address she said: “… the goal of the task force is to bring businesses together to talk about what’s working, what’s not working, where do you need our help, so that we can eliminate the obstacles to doing business. That’s the red tape part.
“This is about a very focused task. We want to bring people together, and by the summer, have this group give council, and the province where appropriate, advice on what we can do better.”
The announcement was positively received and the event was an announced – it was billed as Red Carpet – Red Tape – the first of several scheduled meetings took place early this morning at the Waterfront Hotel where about 90 people gathered around 10 to12 tables to address three issues:
What isn’t working; What is working – and what are your ideas.
I was in the room standing quietly in the corner taking pictures and listening to the proceedings when I was approached and told that I couldn’t be in the room because I wasn’t registered to attend.
The Gazette was aware the participants were asked to register so that the Mayor’s office could determine how many people were going to show up – they also wanted to cap the audience at 100 people.
The material we saw about the event said nothing about it being media free. We published several articles on the event which is usually a sign that we have taken an interest.
My conversation with Victoria Al-Samadi, the Mayor’s Chief of Communications & Strategic Advisor was interesting – if a little confusing. Her concern was that the business people in the room were not aware that media was going to be in there and she felt that participants would not be as fulsome in their comments as the Mayor wanted them to be if media was looking over their shoulders.
None of the participants said a word while we were in the room. They weren’t expected to talk – they were participating in conversations with colleagues at each table.
Marianne Meed Ward prides herself on her experience as a journalist – she was more of an editor and a columnist rather than a journalist chasing a story – but let us not quibble – the Mayor understands media and uses it very effectively.
The Communications advisor then slipped back into the room (at this point she and I were outside the room) to have a few words with the Mayor – returned and said that I could be in the room once the wrap up began. So the Mayor was Ok with keeping media out of the room. There goes the claim to being transparent.
The conversation with the communications advisor was polite but animated. She talked about having her announce that media would be in the room and they could approach us if they wished. Journalists don’t stand in a corner waiting for people to approach them.
I had some difficulty understanding why the Mayor’s staff felt they had to protect the business people from media.
In correspondence later in the day the Communications advisor said: “I think we can work together very collaboratively in the future and ensure that you have access to the events you would like to cover. As I said, my intention today was simply to ensure our attendees were informed so that they have all the information they need to decide how much they want to share, and the words they use to share it, regarding their own businesses while they were in the room.”
Journalists refer to this as “news filtering” that gets done to control the message. The Region of Halton has more than half a dozen communication advisors who send out media releases about things like the opening of a new traffic round about or that the Region has a better corporate credit rating than the United States.
Fluff for the most part.
The Mayor’s Communications advisor did assure us that we would get a copy of the summary of the material that was produced by each table and we trust that she will follow through.
There is a movement taking place around the world to limit the role media plays. It is rampant in the United States – hopefully Burlington will not take up the practice.
The Gazette is a member of the National News Media Council that advocates for strong local media.
Related news story:
Red Tape issues discussed.
Salt with Pepper is the thoughts, opinions and reflections of the Burlington Gazette publisher
 By Staff
March 28th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
It was billed as a major part of the way Marianne Meed Ward was going to serve as Mayor when she addressed the Chamber of Commerce with her State of the City address in January.
She was going to listen; she was going to get right in the bull rushes and listen to the croaking frogs and learn what was working and what wasn’t working in terms of the way city hall serves the interests of the business community.
Early this morning some 85 people gathered around tables at the Waterfront Hotel and were taken through an exercise that was designed to pull out the pluses and the minuses of working with the bureaucracy at city hall.
The Mayor knew there were some horror stories, she hoped there were some success stories – and she wanted to hear them first hand.
People were not able to stand up and talk – these were business people gathered around a table with a facilitator in place to help the process move forward.
The crowed was asked to set out the challenges faced when working with city hall; then they were asked to talk about the successes and then asked to put some ideas on the table.
There were no verbal reports from the 12 or so tables – the notes were gathered up and would be made public once the mayor’s office had gone through the contents of the notes people wrote.
Mayor Meed Ward brought ward 2 Councillor Kelvin Galbraith in to help her – Galbraith is the only member of council who has significant experience at the small business level.
 Billed as a Red Carpet – Red Tape event designed to get at the problems, the event was described to the Gazette as a “registered” business people only event when we began to take notes.
We were edged out of the room, nicely by Victoria Al-Samadi, Mayor’s Chief of Communications & Strategic Advisor
We got back in when the Mayor was doing the wrap up and explaining that the event was the first of several phases to get at the root of whatever there were in the way of problems.
The next step is meetings with specific groups who would be invited to take part: Small business; groups that work with the city on behalf of membership, the Downtown Business Development Association, Chamber of Commerce, parking advisory group; big business corporations including manufacturers and finally the development community.
These will be on an invitation only basis.
The Mayor intends to create a Task Force that will look at the issues that become evident and task them with taking part in preparing a report that will go to city council sometime in June in time to include any spending that might have to be done in the 2020 budget.
Meed Ward made two significant comments: “If we find that Yes – there are problems, we want to move on them quickly. If there aren’t any problems – we want to move on and not waste any time.”
 It was a decent crowd – the plan was to cap it at close to 100 people Three of the city Councillors were evident. Angelo Bentivegna has been working the audiences at every event he attends – there is an agenda there.
That is certainly the language the business community wants to hear.
There are always people who complain about the pace at which things get done at city hall. The Gazette is aware of a vinyl record pressing company that had to wait months to get permits while more than $5 million worth of equipment sat shrink-wrapped on the floor of the space they had rented.
Then there was the dry cleaner who had to wait six months to get the permits he needed when he opened a dry cleaning operation.
Dry cleaning involves the use of chemicals – but there many dry cleaning operations – didn’t the city have the staff with some experience, asked the owner?
When he opened the second dry cleaning store he found he had to wait just as long. There were no lessons learned at city hall.
Then there is the developer who said to us just this morning when we were arranging for an interview: “Moved to Burlington permanently for our offices just in time to be subjected to a council that shuts down our business and a mayor who twice uses unauthorized videos of our site to stand on her soap box and pump up over-intensification even when it doesn’t exist. Nice warm welcoming feeling for a company that pays and has generated hundreds of thousands of tax dollars annually.”
Our guess is that he won’t be invited to sit on the Task Force.
 By Staff
March 29th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
The Halton Regional Police Service arrested two suspects following a series of residential break and enters across the G.T.A. The investigation commenced after the suspects broke into a residence on Goodram Drive in the City of Burlington.
 The investigation led investigators to an address in Mississauga while also linking numerous break and enters that had occurred across the G.T.A from Brantford to York Region.
On March 25th 2019, investigators were conducting surveillance on two suspects when they were observed committing a residential break and enter. Arrests took place.
Following the arrests, investigators sought and executed three Criminal Code search warrants at a residence, a storage locker and a vehicle all located in the City of Mississauga. As a result, a large quantity of property was recovered that is believed to have been stolen from the identified break and enters. Investigators are still processing the stolen property to identify the rightful owners.
Arrested and charged are:
1) Antoni HAL (59 years old of Mississauga), charged with five counts of break and enter, possession of stolen property, possession of break and enter tools, uttering a forged document and fraud under.
2) Leokadia MINKIEWICZ (55 years old of Mississauga), charged with five counts of break and enter, possession of stolen property and possession of break and enter tools.
Both were held pending a bail hearing.
The investigation is ongoing at this time and additional charges are expected to be laid. Anyone who may have additional information concerning this investigation is asked to contact Detective Constable Pam Douglas of the 3 District Criminal Investigations Bureau at (905)825-4747 ext. 2363 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 .
Please be reminded that all persons charged are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law
 By Staff
March 28th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
The is a small group that has been advocating for a postage stamp that celebrates the creation of the Avro Arrow; a twin-engine, supersonic interceptor, which could fly at more than twice the speed of sound. It is considered one of the greatest technological achievements in Canadian aviation history. Some of its innovative technologies are still in use today.
The Avro CF-105 Arrow was killed by the Diefenbaker government in 1959 to the dismay of many and put an end to Canada having anything in the way of a great aeronautical engineering industry.
Canada wasn’t seen as a player in the field until we invented the Canada arm.
 Next week, April 3rd at 7pm, several people from Canada Post will be making a presentation to the Burlington Stamp Club. It will be a big moment for them – they have been advocating for a stamp for more than 12 years.
They didn’t give up – and now they have a 5 cent stamps about the Avro.
No such thing as sending a letter for five cents but the stamps are nice.
 By Pepper Parr
March 28th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
If you needed a word to describe Vince Fiorito – it would be environmentalist, with a deep knowledge of invasive species.
The Conservation Authority of Halton named him the Steward of Sheldon Creek which runs behind his home. Along with junk that ignorant people throw into the creeks there are birds of every type.
 An adult mink climbs up the bank from Sheldon Creek behind the home of Vince Fiorito.
Recently, Vince had a visitor from an adult mink. It came up bank from the creek and was hunched down close to the ground. Vince wasn’t sure what the animal was doing or was about to do as he reached for his camera.
 The mink spots a squirrel who didn’t appear to be paying attention. It then became pretty clear. The squirrel sitting yards away was the object of the mink’s attention.
The squirrel became aware of the mink – and sat there, waiting for the mink to make a move.
 The mink lunges towards the squirrel – the squirrel looks for a way of of its predicament. Nature has its own way of determining who and what survive. The fleet of foot can win the race – and this squirrel was able to move quickly. Could he move quickly enough?
Or was the mink about to have lunch?
 Does the mink have its prey in its jaws? The mink makes its move. So does the squirrel.
 The squirrel heads for a tree – the mink heads back to the creek. And the fleet of foot survive.
One wonders what that squirrel had to say to the other squirrels in the area.
The mink was left to head back to the cold waters of Sheldon Creek and look for something that would be a little easier to catch.
The survival of the fittest in its rawest form.
Fiorito explains that he was taking pictures of songbirds with his Canon Rebel and a good lense when the mink happened along. There were two of them but only one came into the backyard. I took about 30 images rapid fire from my bedroom window.
By Staff
March 27th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
It is that time of year again – when we get to take a peek at just how much was earned by the civil servants in our community. It is that nosiness in our human nature.
 If you’re happy and you know it – clap your hands. The report, published each year was started by Mike Harris when he was Premier. It was called the sunshine list and the name stuck.
It is best to start with the big picture: The total salaries cost to the government was $19,207,224,624 in 2018, a 14.1% increase from the previous year.
That is $19 billion, $207 million, $224 thousand and $624 in payroll expense.
The media release refers to this as “unsustainable”. They certainly got that right.
Today the government released the salaries of Ontario Public Service and broader public sector employees who were paid $100,000 or more in 2018. Proactively releasing information on public sector salaries is part of the government’s commitment to being open and accountable to taxpayers.
 City of Burlington Clerk’s department staff doing their bit to raise funds for the United Way. The release shows the total number of employees disclosed under the Act continued to grow in 2018, increasing by 19,131 employees, or 14.5%. A large portion of the increase is attributable to the Broader Public Sector, which specifically saw an increase of 17,792 employees disclosed, or 15.4% in 2018.
In addition, the data shows that the number of employees earning more than $100,000 at the agencies that make up Ontario Health has grown from 138 in 2003 to 1,469 in 2018, a 964.5% increase.
Between 2003 and 2018, average salaries of all employees in the public sector, including those making less than $100,000, increased by 48.1%. By 2017, the average private sector worker earned $16,049 less than the average Ontario public sector employee. This income disparity has steadily grown since 2003 and the average private sector Ontario worker’s salary in 2017 is now 33.6% lower than the salary for the average Ontario public sector employee.
The 2018 data is available in a downloadable, machine-readable, sortable, searchable table format on Ontario.ca/salarydisclosure, making it transparent and accessible to the people of Ontario. Every disclosure dating back to 1996 is also available in accessible, downloadable, sortable formats.
The Treasury Board Secretariat has paused all pending compensation adjustments for public sector leaders, and all pending broader public sector executive compensation increases, while a full review takes place. Fair and sustainable compensation costs are a key component of the provincial government’s plan to ensure value for money, direct tax dollars towards front line services, and restore sustainability in the province’s finances.
More than half of government expenses go towards wages.
All the gory details can be found HERE.
Correction: In an earlier edition of this story we said the list was introduced by Bob Rae when he was Premier. It was introduced by Mike Harris in 1966.
By Pepper Parr
March 27th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
The early announcement stunned a lot of people.
 26 storeys high – 250 units with a park and retention of the restaurant. A 26 storey tower on the north side of Old Lakeshore Road on a property that would run from Old Lakeshore north to Lakeshore Road at the base of Martha Street was seen as a bold move on the part of the Core Group – a Toronto developer who took their proposal to the public last night and, for the most part, got a decent response.
The height for almost everyone was the issue. Come back with a 15 storey proposal and you might have a deal was the way most people seemed to feel.
Mayor Meed Ward was on hand along with Councillors Nisan and Bentivegna who joined Councillor Kearns who hosted the event.
The existence of a one year development freeze didn’t deter the developers – they were getting their story out and, to some degree, setting the agenda.
Other developers in the room who had property interests in what is referred to as “the football” that stretch of land that is between Old Lakeshore and Lakeshore sat rather glumly as the Core people told their story.
 A 3D model was on display – showing very clearly where the structure would be and its relationship to other buildings in the area. The design is very smart looking, the developer used all the right buzz words – “context” seemed to be the preferred word at this point.
 The Bridgewater, while it has fewer storeys, does loom as large on the horizon The Gazette will report at length on what the plans are all about. The key features were the retention of the Carriage Gate restaurant and the creation of a park that will make the location a place where people will want to hang around and enjoy the setting.
The Core Group brought a team of six people to the presentation. They were professional and answered a lot of the questions – but there were some gaping holes in the context.
More later in the week.
By Staff
March 27th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
A Burlington resident isn’t so sure that the city’s plans for free rides on the transit buses from 9:30 to 4:00 pm Monday to Friday is all that good an idea.
He is questioning why do this? – we are just shifting riders’ times to “off-peak” times. If this is to increase ridership, it will not succeed. So I think it’s more to do with optics and politics than helping transit.
 Resident is going to rise the bus and ask questions to determine if people will use the free ride during off peak hours. Rather than just bellyache the resident said he will be going on a few bus rides, at various times, and chat with riders to get their stories (students, business people commuting, seniors, and those who choose transit for whatever reason).
He will report to you the Gazette readers on what he has learned.
Our writer was at one of the Burlington Transit public meetings and found it wanting – they really weren’t interested in what the public (the usual suspects anyway) had to say – just put a few dots on a map.
“I hope to have something for you mid-April.”
We will watch for this one.
By Pepper Parr
March 26th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
Interesting how things change. What was once defined as an organization that had little if anything in the way of credibility grows to become what looks like a growing and politically influential organization.
 People were stunned – they saw it as mind boggling. When the development of a 24 storey development across the street from city hall was first shown to the public there wasn’t a lot of protest. ECoB was created by a group that was stunned by the kind of growth that was taking place in the city’s downtown core. The possibility of a 24 storey building rising across the street from city hall was mind boggling to these people.
The approach they perceived was being taken by the city’s Planning department and the degree to which the city council that was in place at the time was just too much for what was initially a small group of people who were described as “the anti-development crowd”
During the 2018 election three of the members of council seeking to be re-elected: Blair Lancaster, Paul Sharman and Jack Dennison would have nothing to do with the group that organized and held ward level debates that produced packed church hall meetings.
 Councillor Paul Sharman was a No Show at the ward 5 debate Sharman wouldn’t take part in the ECoB ward 5 debate, neither would Lancaster who arranged to hold her own debate. Dennison said he wouldn’t attend and jerked the ECoB people around with scheduling. Dennison did see that he was making a mistake and left a city council meeting early to take part in the debate at Nelson High School – he still lost; mostly because he was running against a single candidate with no vote splitting possible.
ECoB met a public need and has decided to continue to do what it could to ensure that there is an informed electorate that can be made aware of what is going on at city hall.
 Crowds like this for a ward level debate were close to an unheard of event in Burlington. They took up one of former Mayor Rick Goldring’s ideas – he created the Inspire Series of speakers that came to Burlington. It was a good idea.
ECoB created their Inform series –the first takes place June 13th, and will feature Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward and Oakville Mayor Rob Burton in conversation about issues that matter to both communities.
Roland Tanner will serve as facilitator of the event.
The event was scheduled to take place in the Community Theatre in the Performing Arts Centre. They “sold out” in less than 12 hours after the free tickets were made available.
 Penny Hersh – ECoB co-chair One member of council wasn’t able to get a seat – she waited too long. A waiting list was set up.
Penny Hersh – ECoB co-chair (Roland Tanner is the other co-chair) looked for a way to book the Main Theatre which can hold at least 750 people.
“It’s a bit of a gamble” said Hersh “but the demand seems to be there so we took the risk”. Hersh added that some of the strong supporters wrote big cheques to help cover the cost. Kelly’s Bake Shop decided to be a supporter – think Cup Cakes when you are downtown next.
 Paper money please for the donation box at the ECoB Inform event on June 13th. And think donation when you take your seat – there will be highly visible donation boxes – think paper money.
ECoB is a bit of a different fish when it comes to their organizational structure. “Our goal” said Hersh, “was to help people in each ward create their own ward level organization that would focus on their issues. We don’t tell them what to do. We support them, answer their questions and give them any advice when they ask.”
There are active ECoB groups in all six wards. “Some are better organized than others, some are truly representative of the community,” said Hersh.
“The legislation is being implemented before parliamentary debate has even concluded and prior to any public hearings. The government created the Super Agency. It held its first secret meeting. The government dissolved the Boards of 20 existing agencies.
Yet the legislation has not even passed. Not only this but all public input and procedural protections that existed in previous legislation have been removed from this legislation which has been subject to no public consultation process prior to drafting.”
(March 18, 2019 – Natalie Mehra, Executive Director – Ontario Health Coalition)
 By Ray Rivers
March 22, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
I know what you’re thinking. If it worked for garbage why not provincial health care? Right?
Premier Ford’s younger brother Rob’s claim to his fame, besides his crazy antics which put Toronto on the front pages everywhere, was privatizing a part of Toronto’s garbage collection system to save money.
 Bye bye local health care oversight. So why not use the same tried and true formula with health care? Of course there is already substantial private sector involvement in Ontario’s health system, such as long term care, blood labs, and most doctors. Still, the opposition at Queen’s Park is convinced Doug’s plan is more privatization.
And that might account for why Ford and his team are busy willy-nilly disassembling and dismembering Ontario’s entire health-care apparatus. That and because those damned Liberals designed and implemented the system. Cripple the organization, create a crisis, then call in the consultants from south of the border to clean up the mess.
And they’ll tell you the other kind of privatization is the answer. That would be the kind that violates the Canada Health Act – extra billing for health care services and opening the door to two-tier health care. After all Mr. Ford seems to enjoy giving his middle finger to the feds when it comes to national programs.
The problem is we don’t know. And Ford is not telling. That might be because he doesn’t even know. Perhaps he hasn’t had time to put it all together, given it’s only half a year since the election, and re-inventing health care is not something you do in an afternoon. Then it could be the advice he’s getting from his crony, the guy with nearly a half-million dollar sole-source consulting contract, his old friend Dr Rueben Devlin.
 And how are we liking this government so far? Are we paying attention?  Christine Elliott – Minister of Health What we do know is that a super agency has been created, and everything is to be managed and controlled out of this super agency. Think of the irony, Ford the Marxist-hater building a Soviet-style centralized bureaucracy. Just about everything, including the world renowned Cancer Care Ontario has now been merged and lumped into this one oversized box.
The government has shut down the 14 local integration networks, the LHINs, which managed and allocated half of the provincial $60 billion budget among the competing demands from hospitals, long term and home care agencies. They will get their local budgets dictated from Toronto now.
There is mention of 30 or 50 voluntary regional health teams somewhere in the future to partly replace the LHINs. But it is anyone’s guess how they would work, given their limited roles. And it is hard to imagine how 30 administration units would be less costly than the 14 that have just been eliminated.
 If the government drops a ball – who gets hurt? No question there are a lot of balls in the air. And they’re going to stay up there for at least another three years according to Christine Elliott, the health minister. In the meantime, I guess it’s muddle through, the squeaky wheel gets the bed pan, and before you know it’ll be time to re-invent the system. That would take us to the next election and perhaps the next government.
‘Create a crisis’ was the marching song of the last PC government in Ontario. And it sure looks like create-a-crisis Mike is back in town, and back in charge, at least in spirit. Harris presided over the worst health care this province ever experienced. The longest hospital wait times in the country; cardiac patients literally dying in hospital corridors waiting for surgery; and cancer patients being bussed to Buffalo and Detroit for treatment.
According to the provincial auditor Harris’ restructuring efforts from 1996 to 2000, intended to bring common sense to the provincial health system, cost $3.9 billion mainly to lay off nurses and staff, close down local services, then rebuild them elsewhere. And his system savings amounted to only $800 million, leaving all of us in the hole.
We should be concerned and maybe even panicked at what is going on now, at how rapidly these changes are happening, at how little analysis has been undertaken, and at how little consultation has taken place. Even the official opposition seems overwhelmed, gob smacked or just sleeping. There have been no public hearings on any of these proposed changes or on the changes yet to come.
 Rivers on Ford: “That might be because he doesn’t even know. Perhaps he hasn’t had time to put it all together, given it’s only half a year since the election…”, There is no provincial program more important than health care. And that is particularly true for senior Ontario residents – those most in need of its services. It is the largest public expenditure item using up 40 cents of every tax dollar.
During the election campaign Ford bragged about how he was going to fix hallway healthcare by adding hospital and long term care beds. So far we haven’t heard of him doing any of that. Instead he is acting like God, creating a new universe of health care delivery out of the ruins of the one he is dismantling.
Mr. Ford may think he is inventing the wheel, but unless he is a miracle worker, he is just fixing what isn’t broken. He inherited a system with the shortest wait times and lowest costs of delivery per person in the country. He’d better not trash it.
 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
Background links:
Ontario Health Coalition – Elliott – Toronto Garbage –
Super Agency – Regional Teams – Cancer Care –
A Sick Feeling – Privatization – Two Tier –
Social Assistance – Grifter Government – No Consultation –
 By Staff
March 21st, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
Walking is a healthy exercise. It is also a time when you can think and wonder at all the things we have going for us and worry a little about the problems.
Walking with a friend is one of the most civil things a person can do.
 Just out for a walk. Burlington is encouraging members of the community to take steps toward better health with Just Walk Hamilton-Burlington, an outdoor community walking program led by local healthcare professionals and funded in part through the City’s Neighbourhood Community Matching Fund.
Join registered Kinesiologist Jordan Kilpatrick-Smith for a free, fun and supervised walk on Saturday, March 23 at 9 a.m. through Nelson Park and Sherwood Forest Park. Kilpatrick-Smith and the Just Walk team will meet community members at the Nelson Park parking lot located behind the Nelson Arena near the baseball diamonds (4183 New St., Burlington).
The walk will begin with a short educational talk titled, “Healthy Weight Loss to Gain Time, Money and Energy” followed by a guided walk at your own pace. Each walk is open to all abilities and pre-registration is not required.
Join the Just Walk group’s email list at justwalk-hb.weebly.com for information on upcoming walk dates and locations.
The group will be hosting 12 walks in Burlington between February and September.
By Pepper Parr
March 21st, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
The federal budget that was introduced on Wednesday in the House of Commons doesn’t get treated as top of the page new by most people.
The people at city hall found themselves paying attention when they learned that the gas tax the federal government gives the city usually has strings attached to it – this time the gas tax total was bumped up by $5.6 million – which covers a lot of infrastructure repair and upgrading.
This was good news for the City of Burlington
Yesterday’s federal budget included municipal top-up funding to support local infrastructure priorities. The City of Burlington will benefit from the one-time doubling of the Federal Gas Tax funding, which will result in an extra $5.6 million for infrastructure.
 This is where infrastructure money has been spent in the past. The federal funding will certainly help. Federal Gas Tax funding can be used in eligible categories including productivity and economic growth through areas such as roads, bridges or public transit, clean environment initiatives such as community energy systems or strong cities and communities via sport, recreation, culture, tourism or disaster mitigation.
City staff will bring a report to the Monday, April 1 Committee of the Whole meeting at 1 p.m. with recommended projects related to this.
Mayor Marianne Meed Ward has been speaking with federal colleagues and confirmed that Burlington will get that additional $5.6 million in one-time funding and that it will be free of the usual restrictions we see from Gas Tax cash payments.
“This funding can be spent on infrastructure, on our roads, transit, brownfield redevelopment, sports, tourism and disaster mitigation, to name a few. City staff will begin working on a report to lay out the best uses for these funds for Council’s consideration.”
There is an opportunity here for citizens to float some of their ideas on what can be done with that additional $5.6 million. Don’t leave it up to city hall stuff to come up with the ideas. It’s your city – let both your council member and the Interim city manager how you would like to see those dollars spent – that’s was being engaged is all about.
 The chances of affordable housing in Burlington looking like this are slim – land costs are just too high. The city is going to have to think in terms of high rise – something in the order of 7 to 11 storeys. Mayor Meed Ward is “getting more details around the proposed $300 million to launch a Housing Supply Challenge that encourages municipalities to come up with innovative ways to grow its housing supply. She wants to make sure Burlington has access to these funds and adds that this “will certainly help us meet the growing need of affordable housing in our city.”
Real citizenship engagement:
There is an opportunity here for citizens to float some of their ideas on what can be done with that additional $5.6 million.
Don’t leave it up to city hall staff to come up with the ideas. It’s your city – let both your council member and the Interim city manager how you would like to see those dollars spent – that’s was being engaged is all about.
 By Pepper Parr
March 20th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
Engaged Citizens of Burlington (ECoB) has moved into a new phase of its growth.
 They have amped up the energy on the engaged side and will be holding the first of their Inform Series; these will be debates, discussions – events that inform people on critical issued.
These are not intended to be dry, dusty, stuff, boring events. The first will take place on June 13th, in the Community room of the Performing Arts Centre and will feature a discussion between Mayor Rob Burton and Burlington’s Marianne Meed Ward with a Tale of Two Cities story line.
 Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward  Oakville Mayor Rob Burton The two cities, in some ways very similar, in other ways very different.
Over the last decade, Burlington, it is fair to say, has seen division over the direction of council, and the implications of intensification for different areas of the city.
Oakville, like Burlington, has to meet provincial targets for intensification. Yet it has not seen the major changes to its downtown that Burlington is seeing. Nor has it seen, so far, the strength of citizen opinion that has arisen in Burlington.
Join us for a wide-ranging conversation with the mayors of Burlington and Oakville, as they consider the contrasting experiences in each city, and what we can learn from the other.
Don’t miss what promises to be a fascinating evening!
Location: Burlington Performing Arts Centre, Studio Theatre
Date: June 13th 2019, 7-8:30pm
Cost: Free (Tickets must be obtained in advance, first come, first serve)
Tickets are limited! Sign up today to make sure you don’t miss out!
Register HERE for tickets.
By Staff
March 20th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
Reports of sexual assaults in the city are on the rise.
On Saturday March 16th 2019, Detectives with the Child Abuse and Sexual Assault Unit (CASA) commenced an investigation after a 23 year old female reported that she had been sexually assaulted in the area of Lakeshore Rd. and Elizabeth Street in the City of Burlington.
The victim advised that she met the suspect on the dating app “HINGE” and he identified himself as “Giovanni VINCENTE”. The victim attended a local establishment with the suspect before accepting a ride in his vehicle. The victim was driven to the above mentioned location at approximately 11:30pm, where she was sexually assaulted.
The suspect is described as male, 26 years, olive complexion, 6’3″, 220lbs, short sandy blonde hair with a beard and was wearing a camouflage shirt and jacket. The suspect was driving a newer model black four door Volkswagen.
Police are asking anyone with information regarding this or similar incidents to contact the Child Abuse and Sexual Assault Unit – Detective Sergeant Chris Newcombe at 905-465-8965 or Detective Constable Mark Werner at 905-465-8747.
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
Earlier in the week a sexual assault on Elgin at Burlington Avenue was reported.
Link to related news story:
Earlier sexual assault.
By Ray Rivers
March 20th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
This was unquestionably an election-year budget, with lots of little goodies sprinkled about for most Canadians. And it is costly with a still hefty on-going deficit. But is it too costly?
Newly minted People’s Party leader Maxime Bernier said it was “… irresponsible …because it’ll be future generations that will have to pay for it. They want to buy votes and that’s not the way to do politics — with people’s money.”
 They want you to buy this book. Mr. Morneau would probably argue the opposite. That is what government is all about – using our collective wealth for the betterment of us all. He claimed that his choice to deficit spend when interest rates were low, and even during good times, has resulted in a much healthier economy than when the Liberals replaced the Tories almost four years ago.
And the country now has the lowest unemployment rate in forty years. Management of the economy, or luck, has also resulted in a spectacular increase in the revenues flowing into government, to quote bank economists.
The government takes a longer term approach to debt management, targeting its debt performance as a percentage of GDP. And the ratio is declining according to the budget forecasts. Canada’s debt, unlike other nations in the G7, is largely held by Canadians, reducing the risk of foreign influence in our domestic economy.
New spending programs in the budget may seem like crumbs to neophyte NDP leader Jagmeet Singh. But every budget is a balancing act and this budget is very much about further support for the middle class and young starter families in particular. This is consistent with the strategy the Trudeau government has adopted since first coming to office.
They are offering a $5000 consumer rebate on electric car (EV) purchases and an immediate capital write-off for businesses purchasing EVs. That is the glove on the hand of the national carbon tax, providing an option to reduce the impact of the upcoming carbon tax, and freeing up annual carbon tax rebates for other purposes. There is a $45,000 limit on the vehicle value which should encourage auto makers to get more affordable EVs into the market place.
Nobody should argue about more money being allocated to municipalities for infrastructure. And who would quarrel with greater assistance for indigenous child welfare and indigenous drinking water improvements?
Nor should anyone quibble with more resources to protect our election systems from cyber threats. There is even more money for the RCMP and for the public prosecutor, the one who declined to exercise the SNC remediation agreement.
 Andrew Scheer, Jagmeet Singh or Justin Trudeau – one of them will be Prime Minister. Will that person lead a minority government? The government is taking first steps towards a national pharmacare program and developing a program to provide support to Canada’s beleaguered media industry and its fledgling digital information platforms. Details are still somewhat vague but one can see echoes of Justin’s father, and how he enabled Canada to become a major player in the global entertainment industry.
On the other shoe of climate change, there will be more money for emergency natural disaster relief. And given what has just taken place in New Zealand, the government will be allocating resources to protect community gathering places from hate crimes.
This is an election year budget and the message is ‘steady-as-she-goes’ but with some new seeding of the bare spots. The federal budget ended up overshadowing another election year event – an Alberta throne speech followed by an announcement of an election date. The NDP’s Rachel Notley is in the fight of her life against United Conservative party’s Jason Kenny, who has been implicated in some messy election corruption of late.
Notley is promising more industrial diversification to ready the economy for the day when oil will no longer be its mainstay. Kenny wants to turn the clock back to when oil was king, cancelling the carbon tax and cutting taxes for corporations and the wealthy.
Kenny and his Ontario buddy Mr. Ford define right wing politics in this country. Maxime Bernier is probably well intentioned, but a bit of an amusement as he gropes to find his way around the religion of Libertarianism. And he is still pretty much alone, though with aspirations to convert more tribal Conservatives over to his camp. And Preston Manning would be his model.
Mr. Scheer, on the other hand is turning out to be an embarrassment to the great, and even not so great, Tories who came before him. He is doing himself no favours banging on about SNC and treating Jody Wilson-Raybould as if she were a fellow Tory instead of a committed Liberal.
Sometimes one has to wake up smell the coffee and recognize reality.
 During delivery of the budget speech the heckling was so intense that Morneau could not be heard – the the Conservatives cleared the opposition benches and left the House. His antics in the House of Commons during the budget presentation, which again failed, sum up why his personal popularity as a leader pales behind that of the PM. Railing on like a angry person, sending letters to the RCMP, calling on the PM to resign, etc. won’t convince Canadians that he’d make a good PM. Clowning can be amusing, and annoying, but it won’t get him into the PM’s office.
As we head into the 2019 election, it would be fair to ask where Scheer stands on the issues that really matter to Canadians and where is his platform. It has been over a year since he promised to deliver a climate change action plan as an alternative to the federal carbon tax. Isn’t it about time he put his money where his mouth is, or let somebody more competent take on the job of party leader?
Surely one would expect the leader of the official opposition to be in the Commons chamber to listen to the annual budget being presented. It’s more than just being polite. Instead Scheer was hiding in the halls, playing politics.
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.
Background links:
Deficits – Budget – Scheer Disruption– More Budget –
By Pepper Parr
March 19th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
The Glenwood School Drive community, located west of Guelph Line and north of the GO line is back in the news.
Five years ago the residents got some relief for a bridge that some thought was going to fall down – but they had to fight for every yard they gained in the battle with their city council.
 Built in the 70’s to allow people from the Glenwood School Drive community to get to shops and community amenities the bridge was declared unsafe in 2012 – fixed at a cost of $380,000. No longer safe for the public to use, the Drury Lane pedestrian bridge was closed in November of 2011. The estimate at the time to replace the bridge was $2 million to re-build and $380,000 to put on a five year patch.
An inspection of the structure, that was first put up in 1972 and modified and repaired a number of times since then, was found to be unsafe.
Suddenly a community that is basically landlocked, found that it had to take trips that required 55 minutes as opposed to the normal 20 minutes. Parents found they could not get their kids to school on time.
A community that used to have a way out to commercial Fairview and south to the commercial core was suddenly floundering to figure out how they were going to get around and, more significantly, how they were going to deal with a city council that seemed to have forgotten all about them.
 Rendering of the proposed new Drury Lane pedestrian bridge Last week MetroLink announced plans for a new bridge – the old bridge could not handle the electrification of the GO Lakeshore Line West.
Merolinx will be picking up most of the cost – basically because the bridge has to be raised so that electrification can be done on the GO Lakeshore West line.
Related news story:
Patching the bridge in 2012 – council decision making at its worst.
By Staff
March 18th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
Karina Gould joins a community of Young Global Leaders.
 Karina Gould in the \House of Commons with former President |Barack Obama addressing the House. Last week, the World Economic Forum informed Gould that she would be joining this year’s class of Young Global Leaders and would be one of five representatives from Canada this year.
The Class of 2019 consists of 127 leaders from around the world, including the most decorated Olympian female swimmer of all time, the managing director of a leading supermarket chain looking to ban plastic packaging and the CEO of YWCA Canada.
Gould is the Minister of Democratic Institutions and Member of Parliament for Burlington.
The Forum of Young Global Leaders was created in 2004, to fuel new models of leadership. Each year, the organization looks for individuals from around the world who are change makers with the grit, foresight and potential to improve the state of the world.
The mission of the Forum for Young Global Leaders is to create a dynamic global community of exceptional people with the vision, courage and influence to drive positive change in the world.
By Staff
March 18th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
On Friday March 15th, 2019, at approximately 8:45 pm, a female in her 30s was walking in the area of Elgin Street and Burlington Avenue. An unknown male suspect walked past her several times before finally approaching the victim at which time he grabbed onto her arms and began shaking her.
The victim struggled with the male and shouted loudly for help forcing him to let go and calmly flee the area. He was last seen walking westbound on Elgin Street. The victim did not sustain any physical injuries.
This is the first report of this nature and police do not feel public safety is at risk, however will continue to provide extra patrols in the area.
Suspect Description: Male, tanned complexion, brown beard, brown eyes, mid to late 20’s, average build and approximately 5’5″ in height.
Clothing Description: Black jacket with a hood, dark coloured pants, headphones and a backpack (possibly black).
The suspect has yet to be identified. Any witnesses, anyone who resides or has businesses in the area of Elgin Street and Burlington Avenue with video surveillance images or anyone who was traveling in that area that has dash cam video images between 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm are asked to call the Halton Police at 905-825-4777 or the 3 District Criminal Investigations Bureau 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
By Staff
March 18th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
It won’t be long now.
On March 13, the AGCO announced that it had issued a cannabis Retail Operator Licence to David Nguyen.
Today, his store RELM Cannabis, located in Burlington, has received its Retail Store Authorization.
Once a Retail Store Authorization has been issued, the licensed operator may finalize their store set-up, including ordering and receiving cannabis product and cannabis accessories into their store ahead of opening for business.
The AGCO must still conduct a pre-opening inspection to ensure the operator is ready to open for business and sell cannabis products to the public in accordance with the Cannabis Licence Act, 2018, its regulations and the Registrar’s Standards for Cannabis Retail Stores.
The retail outlet will be at 4031 Fairview St., unit 103. The location is just east of Walkers Line.
 Fairview – just east of Walkers Line
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