 By Pepper Parr
April 12th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
 The third annual Bfast Forum had its highest attendance ever. Just the one city Councillor plus the Mayor bothered to attend. The Gazette met with Collin Gribbons and Doug Brown to talk about what got achieved during the Burlington for Accessible Sustainable Transit (Bfast) event recently.
The event was the third Open Forum held on transit and recorded the highest attendance ever. “But have they gotten anything done” asked one commentator.
Good question and both Brown and Gribbons had much to say.
“First” said Brown, “is that the transit people were in the room. We have never been able to get them into the room and say something to the audience.”
The issue about transit has always been about funding – more money has to be put into transit to increase the level of service; to add additional services and to begin to come to the realization that transit is a serious part of every urban city, said Brown.
Everyone thinks that means adding to the tax base explained Brown. There is all kinds of money going into transportation and road maintenance. We have situations said Brown where some maintenance work is being done on a cul de sac that gets less traffic than my driveway.
 Ridership has fallen – due, according to Doug Brown, to the changes in the schedules and the level of service. Anyone attending the April Form on transit would have needed two hours to get from the north east part of the city to the library on New Street where the event was held,  Burlington has not adequately funded transit for close to a decade.  On almost every metric Burlington fails. Burlington has been consistent in always being lower than comparative municipalities in terms of how much it sends on transit.
Doug Brown has tried his best to explain to city council how much damage they do to transit when they change schedules or kill a transit route. It takes years for people to return to a service that gets arbitrarily changed.
What irks the Bfast people the most is that city council talks of modal splits and includes transit in that split but then fails to fund it adequately.
When given an opportunity to try to some changes on a pilot basis – city council finds a way to get out of trying anything different.
Advocating fr better transit is a disappointing task – that the Bfast people keep at it is a testament to their tenacity. These people are volunteers – many of them know more about transit than people at city hall – yet they continually fail to get the hearing they deserve.
There has been a small improvement – the city manager is now at least meeting with them.
The city does maintain an asset status system that sets out the condition of every street in the city including when it is due to have some work done on it.
It is that list which is used to determine how far behind the city is in keeping the roads up to a pre-determined standard. City council just has to give the Director of Transportation a Staff Direction – cut back on road maintenance by a specific percentage because we are moving those dollars into transit.
It is really that simple.
  What isn’t as simple if finding the political will to do that. Phone calls to a Councillor from a large house in that cul de sac has more weight than a call from a single parents who has trouble getting to work because the bus schedule was changed.
 Collin Gribbons, a Toronto transplant who was stunned when he found that he really couldn’t get around the city without a car. That’s not part of the story the city tells when they use the tag line: Burlington is one of Canada’s best and most livable cities, a place where people, nature and business thrive in all their media releases. They seem to believe that if they say it often enough it will become true. Bfast as a grass roots organization has grown. Collin Gribbons, a Toronto transplant who used public transit everywhere he went in that city, was a little stunned when he realized how limited public transit is in Burlington. He got involved in Bfast.
His background is in communications within the union sector – work he said he can do from almost anywhere. He moved to Burlington with his family to be closer to his wife’s Mother.
The Gribbons approach to community organizing is to create coalitions that can collaborate to achieve an objective.
The car drivers have a voice – listen to the complaints about the road diet that is being played around with on New Street Gribbons suggested.
His approach is to create coalitions of people who don’t have a voice and join them together to take a case forward to city council – that is where the change is going to get made.
Doug Brown has been toiling away at doing just that for years. When Bfast was formed they began to invite speakers to Burlington to talk about transit issues. “We were never able to get anyone from city hall or the transit service to attend these events. It was almost as if they didn’t want to hear ideas from leading transit thinkers, said Brown.
He will have some difficulty pulling the Burlington city council into that circle where they coordinate and collaborate.
 If Gribbons is right and he can succeed in creating a coalition that is large enough to offset the impact of those who believe that God gave them the right to drive their cars to wherever they want to go the Bfast people might manage to bring about some change in the way transit is funded.
The city -will spend $24,785,000 on roads in 2017 – the budget for 2018 is projected at $32,065,000 and in 2019 they want to pump $45,428,000 into roads. Council consistently argues that they are years behind on keeping the roads up to the expected standard.
The transit people would like to see some of that roads maintenance money sent their way. Brown thinks that about $6 million would solve a lot of the transit problems.
Burlington Transit is currently without a Director. Jeff Black serves as the Acting Director. He is one of the staff at transit that is worth keeping an eye on.
 By Pepper Parr
April 12th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
They are relentless.
Millions, tens of millions of email like the one below get sent out to lists of email addresses.
When you get one – read the address it came from very very carefully – they are all false, phony messages sent to you in the hope that you just might click on the message.
 Read the address this phony email came from. The name between the < > is the sender – not the Royal Bank. If you don’t recognize the name of the sender – don’t open the email. When you do that they have got a bit of a hook in you and they will slowly try and reel you in to the point where they have enough information to begin stealing your money.
The recipient of this message does not have an account with the Royal Bank
Dear (name erased to protect the recipient)
 When these computer hackers get enough information from you – they can access your bank account and remove funds. During our usual security enhancement protocol, we observed a payment was placed on pending status due to the recent upgrade in our database. In order to receive this payment you are required to verify your account from our secure verification link.
To Receive payment kindly click :
Log on to www.royalbank.com/cgi-bin/rbaccess/rbunxcgi
Remember,RBC Royal Bank is committed to your security and protection. To find out more, take a look at our
Information Security section under Privacy and Security on the Web site.
© Royal Bank of Canada Website, © 1995-2017 All rights reserved.
Banks in Canada do not use email to advise you of any problems with your account.
 By Pepper Parr
April 12th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
REVISED and CORRECTED
It was a regular Parent School Council meeting at Lester B, Pearson high school where principal Loraine Fedurco was taking the audience through what had been happening at the Board of Education where Staff had put forward a recommendation that, if voted for by the trustees, could result in the closing of the school in June of 2018.
Lester B. Pearson high school, named after a former Prime Minister, is the newest of the four high schools that are named in the five options on closure choices that will go before the trustees later this month. It is also the smallest high school in Burlington. One of the five options is to not close any of the high schools in the city.
 Ward 4 trustee Richelle Papin The School Board trustee Richelle Papin was in attendance – they gave her a rough ride.
 George Ward George Ward, a resident was blunt and direct – are you going to vote to keep this school open – Yes or No.
Papin didn’t give a yes or a no answer – she said she wanted to wait until she had all the evidence.
Ward asked again – he asked a total of five times but never got a direct answer
Papin said she wanted to hear what the delegations had to say and she wanted to read what the Director of Education had to say in his report that will be released April 21st.
Unfortunately for Papin she didn’t have an answer ready for the audience. Their question – are you going to support us – was one that had to be expected.
The difficulty for Papin is that she is also the trustee for Nelson high school and there is amongst the five options now before the Director of Education a recommendation that Nelson be closed.
 Trustee Papin in a tough spot – two of the four schools that have been named for possible closure are in her ward. Papin is in the very uncomfortable position of having two schools in her ward that could be closed. Tough spot to be in.
This is Papin’s first term as a trustee – it may well be her last. It all depends on what the Director of Education puts forward.
 By Staff
April 11th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The elevator at the Waterfront Parking Garage at 414 Locust St. is out of service until further notice.
 Until further notice doesn’t sound very promising. The picture is dated – there is a new graphic on the building.
By Pepper Parr
April 11th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
There are six flag poles outside city hall. We aware of them, especially when they are at half-staff – we wonder who died.
The city frequently uses the lead pole – the one closest to city hall, when it wants to raise a “special Interest” flag. The Rainbow flag is an example.
 City hall with its six flag poles. Last week the Mayor raised the autism flag. People tend to either shrug or think “that’s nice” and move on if they happen to see a special interest flag.
For the families that have children whose health is somewhere on the autism spectrum the raising of that flag is much more than a passing event.
It is the community’s acceptance that an acknowledgement has been made and that there is some level of acceptance and understanding.
 Coincidentally, last week – maybe a little longer than that – Sesame Street introduce “Julia” a child with autism to the program. The creation of this character and her introduction to the program was five years in the making.
But there she is – very real in the minds of young children. It is hard to explain how the parents of autistic children feel about this change in a social norm.
A year or so ago, a group of parents with older – more than 18 years of age – family members met in a day long workshop at ThinkSpot in Lowville to think through an approach they wanted to make to the provincial government about the care and welfare of their children.
For these parents there is a terrible, dreadful fear over who will care for their autistic children. They worry about who will take care of their children when they are no longer able to do so. They have special needs that are not provided once they are past the age of 18.
“They just get dumped” was the way one parent put it. Out of that workshop came an application for a Trillium grant that allowed the creation of a plan for a different approach to the care of older autistic people.
That flag going up a pole at city hall in Burlington was more than a simple flag raising occasion – it was a sign and an acceptance that change was needed and that change was taking place.
Who would have thought that Julia, an autistic child, would become a main character on a hugely popular children’s television program.
Raise more than a flag to that step forward.
 By Staff
April 10th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Burlington artists and cultural groups from all disciplines that would like to perform at one of the Doors Open Burlington sites on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. are invited to submit a proposal for consideration by May 12, 2017.
The events may include, but are not limited to: craft, dance, literary arts-spoken word, media arts-film, music, theatre, visual arts and performance art.
Doors Open sites.
Artists and performers must be Burlington-based. An honorarium will be provided for each selected proposal.
Doors Open Burlington is part of the eighth annual Culture Days weekend which will take place Sept. 29 to Doors Open is a program of Ontario Heritage Trust.
The event will promote free, hands-on, interactive activities that invite the public to participate behind the scenes to discover the world of artists, performers, historians, architects, curators, designers and other creative individuals in Burlington.
For more information about Doors Open Burlington, Culture Days and the proposal, please visit contact Adam Belovari at 905-335-7600, ext. 7335.
Previous Doors Open events have disappointed. The Historical Society mounted a sad looking collection of four large photographs put up on stands outside the Tourism office.
The Friends of Freeman Station fully understood what Doors Open was all about and they had both a display and people who would talk your ear off if you let them.
A list of the events taking place at various locations will get released later on in the season. We’ve not yet gotten used to the idea that winter is over and that Spring is here.
 By Pepper Parr
April 10th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The public gets to see what the newly formed Arts and Cultural Council of Burlington (ACCOB) wants to look like and what they would like to achieve.
The Board of the organization announced that the organization will be formally launched at a free public event at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre on Tuesday April 18th, 2017 at 5:30pm.
The Arts and Culture Council is a private initiative formed by the arts community; it has been a long time in development. In 2013 Trevor Copp appeared before city council saying he wanted to be able to work in the city he lived in. Council agreed with him – and that was when the ball began to roll.
 The cultural community wanted to be in on the ground floor of any decision making – they made their voices heard – then waited to see if city council will fund culture in a meaningful way. That was in 2013. Sometime after that a number of Burlington artists came together to form the Arts and Culture Collective of Burlington (ACCOB), in an effort to provide support for the many artists and artistic organizations that call Burlington home. This first ACCOB grew to include over 600 members on its Facebook page.
It became clear to the group that a more formal organization should be created; that resulted in the creation of a not-for-profit corporation.
 Robert Missen with his Hall of Fame award, Former Performing Arts Centre president Suzanne Haines on the left and PAC chair Ilene Elkaim on the right. Robert Missen, the 2016 recipient of the Performing Arts Centre Hall of Fame award, said ACCOB joins the community of arts councils that has existed across Canada for many years. “The fact that it has taken some time to make this happen has meant that our Council is unique in Canada in representing the concerns of the various multicultural communities in our city.”
“ACCOB invites all artists and all Burlingtonians that are passionate about arts and culture to gather in the Lobby of the Burlington Performing Arts Centre on Tuesday April 18. Representatives of the ACCOB Board of Directors will provide a brief introduction to the organization and it’s Board. They will outline some of the initiatives they plan to undertake over the next few years, services they plan to provide to the city’s artists and artistic and cultural organizations, and benefits that will accrue to members of the organization. Attendees will be encouraged to become members of the organization.” No mention was made of any membership fee.
The occasion will include brief performances featuring several city performers. These include singer-songwriter Andy Griffiths, violin prodigy Yoanna Jang and the children’s choir Enchorus, conducted by Catherine Richardson. Hors d-oeuvres will be served, catered by Ampersand, and there will be a cash bar.
BURLINGTON PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE LOBBY; TUESDAY APRIL 18TH, 2018 5:30-7:00pm
With decent wine swilled to augment the swallowing of those hors d-oeuvres – then what?
 City Culture manager Angela Papariza chats up Trevor Copp during the unveiling of the Spiral Stella outside the Performing Arts Centre. Part of the mandate will be to influence city council and where it puts the several million dollars that go into the operation of the Art Gallery, the Performing Arts Centre and the museums along with the money being pumped into public art.
Chances of getting new money into the city’s budget might be a bit of a stretch – but there is an election in 2018 and that usually tends to loosen the purse strings.
 The Artists Collective was very clear – they wanted the Parks. It has taken more than four years to get to the point where the arts community has its own formal organization – now they have to fund it. Arts and culture have always had a hard time finding place where real roots can be put down. Thy were always stuffed into Parks and Recreation where things just didn’t work out. Splash pads and swimming pools dominated.
Former city manager Jeff Fielding found a way to keep the cultural manager on staff and former General Manager Scott Stewart had that role reporting to a General Manager.
When Mary Lou Tanner was made the Director of Planning she brought Culture into her department where it has at least been kept alive.
Quite how the Manager of Culture will fit into ACCOB is something that only time will tell – they will want funding the Culture manager will want to keep.
 By Pepper Parr
April 10th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
City council has decided that growth and development is, to a large degree, going to be centered around Mobility hubs and they want you to help them do that work.
 Four mobility hubs – expected to be the preferred locations for future commercial growth and development. There are two meetings taking place.
The city has invited the public into their new Locust Street Grow Bold offices on April 12th. “Individuals interested in learning more about the Mobility Hubs studies are welcome to drop by to meet the city staff working on the Mobility Hubs studies and to ask questions. Refreshments will be provided along with fun activities and games.”
Takes place on Wednesday, April 12 – 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Mobility Hubs Office, 1455 Lakeshore Rd., Unit 7 (across the street from the ESSO gas station)
 Mary Lou Tanner, Director of Planning and Building for the city. Mary Lou Tanner, Chief Planner and Director of Planning and Building explains the purpose of the meeting: “The city needs to hear from the entire community about what they love and value in their downtown so that we can create a long-term vision that continues to make downtown Burlington a great place to live, work, shop and play.
“There is a lot of interest in our downtown from developers. As our city grows, we will receive more and more requests for new buildings of all sizes. With input from the community, the land-use policies created through the Downtown Mobility Hub study will help ensure we have the type of growth in our downtown that we want.”
Once approved, the policies created through Burlington’s Downtown Mobility Hub study will be adopted as part of the city’s new Official Plan.
The offices on Locust Street are not that large – if the weather is good the overflow can spill out onto the side walk cafes on Lakeshore.
 Home to the people who are going to focus on our growth. On April 20th, city Councillor Marianne Meed Ward will return to her Downtown Visioning project and focus on mobility hubs and the role they play. This meeting takes place at Burlington Lions Club Hall, 471 Pearl St., from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Halton Region is anticipated to grow from 530,000 to one million people by 2041. The Province of Ontario’s provincial growth plan, Places to Grow, mandates the City of Burlington plan for a population of 193,000 by 2031.
Just what are mobility hubs? There is a general idea but specifics and details are far from being worked out. The prime objective will be to find ways to move all these people around efficiently.
To get this worked out in the next 18 months is a challenge and include it in the Official Plan
A number of years ago Burlington Transit decided they would shut down the small terminal office on John Street where people were able to buy bus tickets and update their Presto cards. That idea didn’t last very long – what was stunning to many who know something about transit was that the idea actually got to a city council meeting.
 John Street transit station was at one point thought to be past its Best Before date. Clearer minds looked at the property again and decided it could get an upgrade to the status of a mobility hub. What the city has done is set out where the mobility hubs are to be located and have produced a draft Official Plan that focuses on the four locations.
Mobility Hubs locations are around the city’s three GO stations, Aldershot, Appleby and Burlington, and the downtown bus terminal; this is where new growth and development over the next 20 years is to take place.
The city plans to hoist a number of engagement opportunities over the next 18 months to gather input from residents and businesses about how they’d like to see these areas grow and change in the future.
By Pepper Parr
April 10th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The battle lines are being drawn.
Homes in the downtown core got a mail drop recently setting out where Progressive Conservative candidate Jane McKenna stands on the issue of closing high schools in the city.
 Side 1of a flyer dropped off at homes in Burlington.  Side 2 of a flyer dropped off at homes in Burlington. City hall may have been reluctant to get involved but the smell of blood in the water has Jane McKenna focusing her efforts on turning minds in ward 2.
The facts need not bother getting in the way – there is an opportunity to exploit and it doesn’t appear it is going to be missed.
There was a debate in the provincial legislature and the Liberal party did vote to take no action at this point in time.
 Ward 2 city Councillor Meed Ward who is a member of the Program Accommodation Review Committee took part in a media event at Queen’s Park with Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown. Meed Ward has always identified herself at a Liberal in the past. PC leader Pat Brown held a media event the day of that vote with Burlington’s ward 2 city Councillor Marianne Meed Ward at the microphone appealing to the provincial Liberals to do something about the Program Accommodation Review (PAR) taking place in the city.
Meed Ward and most of the parents involved in the school closing issue believe that the PAR process being used is badly flawed and that the quality of the information the school board is feeding the public is both not reliable and subject to frequent changes.
The Program Accommodation Review Committee (PARC) has completed its work and the matter is now in the hands of Board staff who are pulling together the numerous documents that Director of Education Stuart Miller will use in preparing the report he will deliver to the trustees and the public on April 21st.
We are going through a bit of a quiet time while that report goes through what will probably be several drafts before it is placed in the hands of the trustees and the public on April 21st at 6:00 pm; a Friday on the Board of Education’s web site.
All the senior people at the board will have quietly driven out of the Board parking lot and headed for home – no one wants to be around for whatever the backlash to that report is going to be.
The report will get discussed at a school board trustee Committee of the Whole on Wednesday April 26, 2017 starting at 6:00 pm.
Between now and then everyone with any skin in the game will do everything they can to influence the outcome of the debate and discussion that will now take place in front of the 11 school board trustees.
The literature that went out to households in the high school catchment areas across the city might be just the start.
Politics, especially local politics are called a “blood sport” for a reason.
The Burlington Progressive Conservatives are fully funded for the next provincial election. Former city Councillor and Member of Parliament Mike Wallace is running the McKenna election campaign.
Wallace wants and needs to win this campaign if he is to get back into local politics; his eye is believed to be on the office of Mayor for Burlington.
By Staff
April 9th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
According to Ward 2 city Councillor Marianne Meed Ward Burlington has 73% of the intensification it is going to have to take on by 2031 – which is beyond the scope of the much vaunted Strategic Plan. She seems to be saying we are already there.
Does that mean we can stop building? The developers certainly don’t think so. There are currently a number of developments taking place in the city – and not all of it is in the downtown core.
The Adi Development Group is in what looks like close to the mid-point in their Link – a rather adventurous looking set of buildings on Dundas and Sutton; cheek to jowl to Bronte Creek.
The Adi group has always had strong design; nothing beige about these people. Their buildings should take awards for the look and, except for the Martha and Lakeshore project that is mired down in Ontario Municipal Board hearings, locations.
The project on Guelph Line just north of Mainway is a fine building.
The Link will appeal to the people who like to live in buildings with a smart progressive look. No word yet on just where the project is in terms of sales. But the cranes are in place and the building is rising floor by floor.
 Link2 – seen from the corner of Sutton and Dundas.  Link – seen from Dundas Street. The eastern side of the project borders on a path that runs along the side of Bronte Creek. The development does have some OMB history attached to it.
If the information on the ADI Development web site is accurate this project is very close to be sold out. The offered 1 BED, 1 BED + DEN, 2 BED, 2 BED + DEN, 3 BED + DEN and 4 BED + DEN.
Not much of anything left but developers may play the game the big show entertainers play when they announce that a new block of whatever they are selling has been released. The development business calls for a lot of cash up front – they do what they have to do to manage the demand for their product and keep the prices where they want them to be.
As scrappy as they can be on matters regulatory and legal – no one can take away from them the design flare they have shown. The are brash, direct and know where they want to go – and are in the process of creating a brand that will signify value and a certain flare.
Linx2 will have 154 units and is scheduled to open Fall of this year. That could actually happen.
The Molinaro Paradigm project on Fairview is in the process of changing the city’s sky line. Tower A has reached its full height with just the mechanical that will sit on the roof to be completed. Towers B and C are under construction.
 Tower A of the Paradigm project has reached its peak while Tower B and Tower C to the east begin their climb to 21 and 19 storey heights.  Towers B and C of the Paradigm project on Fairview next to the GO station and across a parking lot from Walmart.
It is a large site that will eventually consist of five buildings.
In the downtown core the Carriage Gate people are close to the bedrock level they need for the three levels of underground parking. The condominium will be a combination of a 3 storey stone and precast podium that will accommodate a select group of upscale retail establishments at ground level and professional offices on levels two and three. Atop the podium there will be a 17-storey glass tower with condominiums.
 This is a three part development with a condominium tower, a parking garage and a medical center. Each has its own name. Berkeley for the condo – garage for the garage and Medica One for the medical centre. The development will get build in stages. The project is to consist of three buildings when completed. The condominium will be the first to get built, followed by the eight level parking garage and then the eight story medical building that will border on Caroline.
 The Berkeley at bedrock – bottom floor of the three levels of parking with 19 storey’s of condominiums. The yellow line at the top is the demarcation point for the condominium and where the eight level parking garage with a grass roof will be. The project will give John Street a bit of a much needed boost in terms of what the street looks like.
Parts of the street look more like a back alley than a street that will have one of the mobility hubs at its base.
The city is going to get a chance to learn more about just what a mobility hub is and how it fits into the development of Burlington in the longer term. The draft of the Official Plan that was released last week suggests that major development is going to be located around the four mobility hubs.
At least one developer who was coaxed into putting funds into a creative and much needed development in the east of the city got a bit of a shock when they learned that the project might not get lift off. There are others that see the mobility hub concept at somewhat limiting.
 By Staff
April 7th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
 It wouldn’t have been quite this bad. Just not all that nice. The opening of Tyandaga Golf Course for the 2017 season has been postponed until Friday, April 14 due to this week’s wet weather.
With climate change we may well have to get used to a much different kind of seasonal weather.
For more information, please call 905-336-0005 or visit www.tyandagagolf.com.
 By Staff
April 8th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Just two weeks away – citywide community litter Clean Up 2017 – taking place on Earth Day, April 22.
The event has grown to include 11,000 – 13,000 participants annually. BurlingtonGreen wants to reach a goal of 15,000 registrants for this year’s event.
 Last year these two worked in their neighbourhood. Where will you decide to work? The organization has partnered with the City since 2011 to co-ordinate an annual event to keep our city clean. A total of 63,000 Burlington residents have participated in the six events led by BG since 2011.
It’s easy to participate:
1) form a group, big or small;
2) choose a clean-up area in Burlington (eg. field, park, creek, woodland, your schoolyard, etc.);
3) register your group on our website (link ), and reserve supplies if needed (bags, gloves);
4) do your clean up on April 22nd (schools and businesses may participate April 17-21).
 The weather often determines how many people show up for the celebration after all the work is done. Last year Councillor Paul Sharman, on the left and BG board member Carol Gottlob selling raffle tickets attended. With the work done everyone is invited to take part in the Eco-fair Celebration at Central Park/Library for a BBQ, eco-exhibitors, kids’ activities and live music.
 By Ray Rivers
April 7th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Were the 1960’s classic film ‘The Graduate’ being shot today, the one word of career advice for our Benjamin would be robotics, not plastics. It’s coming and fast. There are already a number of cars which can park and drive better than you and I. And those cars will obediently come when beckoned more consistently than my dog. The modern day soothsayers and prognosticators are telling us that the future is here and now. And it won’t be long before we’ll all be out of work thanks to automation and artificial intelligence.
Last year one study estimated over 40% of our jobs are at risk, as automation has now moved beyond performing mundane repetitive tasks to the “cognitive, non-routine tasks and occupations, such as driving and conducting job interviews.” And if job interviews can successfully be undertaken by robots, is any management or executive job safe?
 Is this the shift supervisor managing the robots? Robots vary in price but some industrial ones fall into the $50,000 to $100,000 range. That compares well with the annual salary of an assembly-line worker when you include benefits. Providing the robot lasts more than a year, automation can be a good financial investment for a company. And the robot won’t talk back to you, can’t complain of workplace harassment, nor organize a union to demand higher wages.
Bombardier seems to be in the news a lot these days. It used to be a compact family run affair, and apparently still is, though big time acquisitions have transitioned it into a multifaceted corporate monster. And the truth is that non-linear thinking and multi-tasking can be best done more often by some kind of computer than a well reasoned human being. Even intuition, without that fickle human emotion or greed, can be programmed into its logical memory.
 A fortune in subsidies but these aircraft do keep Canada in the high end aircraft business which is where many hoped the Avro Arrow would have put us. That may be Bombardier’s problem – it got too big for its britches – or at least the britches of the family compact that grew this little snow-cat enterprise into the mega transport world. Things go wrong and stuff happens when you lose your focus. And that may account for the bleeding red ink and the backlog in production that has been plaguing its air carrier and rail product lines. It has got so bad that the City of Toronto is contemplating killing its long over-due orders.
So the company went cap-in-hand to the governments and banks and dug up two and half billion dollars in Quebec, in exchange for non-controlling equity trades. And the feds have responded to the company’s earlier request for another billion by awarding it around $400 million in an interest free loan. Ironically the federal money coming after the other investments is considered surplus to requirements. But, it was interest free, so they took it anyway and found a use for it.
 Some of these sleek looking transit vehicles are having a hard time keeping on schedule. Basking in the glow of all this green cash the company decided it was high time to share some of the wealth among its six top executives. It boosted their annual compensation packages by a whopping 50% – to a total of $35 million – almost $6 million each. In its defence, Bombardier drew comparisons to exec comp packages at would-be competitors Boeing and Airbus. And the best way go head-to-head with the big leaguers was match them. And if you don’t have the planes to sell, try matching senior management salaries instead.
Timing is as important in public relations as any other aspect of management. So you’d think the Bombardier exec’s could have paced themselves a little before proclaiming how they were spending this new government money on themselves, acting as if they’d actually earned it from product revenue. So the fact that they were laying off almost 14,000 employees globally with about half of those cuts in Canada, never crossed their minds.
“Qu’ils mangent de la brioche”, are the words attributed to the infamous French Queen Marie Antoinette, on hearing the complaint that the peasants had no bread. Clearly this was not Bombardier’s finest hour. It took the roar of an angry public for the embarrassed execs to announce they wouldn’t immediately be hauling in their new-found loot, but rather phase-in their pay raises over three years.
As if delaying their inevitable bonanza would appease those now contemplating feeding their families on federal EI payments. It would be interesting to know how many workers are being replaced by some kind of machine. And perhaps some of those now unemployed are wondering when somebody will invent a robot which can better manage an entire company, like the one they used to work for.
 Will they be given the right to vote? Still the governments of Canada and Quebec are standing behind the company and the wisdom of their investments. The PM shrugged off the exorbitant compensation packages claiming he respects the workings of the free market. Except government subsidy is usually not the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of the free market. Still economic nationalists would be hard pressed to argue against public financial support for one the most significant Canadian companies ever.
And according to Transport Minister Marc Garneau “the C-Series is an extraordinary plane”. So as this country celebrates its 150th birthday we should take a moment to recall another extraordinary plane, the AVRO Arrow of some 60 years ago. The Diefenbaker government will long be remembered for failing to support the development of this advanced jet fighter.
 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 in 1995. He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject. Tweet @rayzrivers
Background links:
Robots –
Automation –
Replacing Workers – Machines Taking Jobs –
Bombardier – Federal Money –
Bombardier Subsidy –
Trudeau Defends Subsidy –
Bombardier Pay –
More Pay –
By Staff
April 6, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The school calendar for 2017-18 has been set out – just needs provincial approval.
Here it is:
The Burlington Gazette is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. This is the body in place to protect the public interest and ensure that media are fair, not always something that is easy to define.
Every quarter we get an update on what the association is doing and what other news media are up to.
We thought we would share what John Fraser, the president of the NNC, had to say.
Fraser has a rather impressive bio – he was the first North American reporter to be posted to China when he was with the Globe and Mail. He was also a former Master of Massey College. He is also a shameless punster; don’t let him get started.
 By John Fraser
April 6, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Opinion-mongering is one of the great bulwarks of traditional journalism. If you look at the history of newspapers, it will inevitably lead back to the glory days of London’s “Grub Street” periodicals and political broadsheets in the early 18th-century, generally favouring one party over another. Within a few decades, the business of music and theatre reviews also started up, either in their own broadsheets or attached to leading periodicals.
 There is, these days, a kind of return to these foundational roots in the rapid and happily unregulated rise of specialized digital journalism platforms. iPolitics, for example, has started asserting itself on the national consciousness as an important source of knowledge on our political and governmental life. Ditto for impressive digital-only publications like The Tyee; or some of the newest members of the NNC like Musical Toronto or Queen’s Park Today. They come about because there are readers who care about the things these platforms report and comment on and they want to stay informed. They also like the angle or perspective taken, and especially the sharp commentaries.
The diffusion is equally a challenge for readers as it is for an organization like ours which strives to offer a legitimate and independent service to deal with disputes or errors or misunderstandings, whether on a digital service or the printed page. It’s the misunderstandings about opinion mongering that I want to focus on in this issue of the NNC Newsletter. Columnists and reviewers often have strong opinions and strong opinions invariably arouse reactions, one way or another.
A big part of the NNC mandate and our day to day work is to explain to complaining members of the public the traditional role of critics and reviewers, whether in the arts, the legislature, or even the dining rooms of the nation. When an outraged bistro owner feels a food critic has been unfair in Toronto Life, or an angry patron of the Canadian Opera objects to a critical evaluation of a performance, or a political party member feels there is a particular bias in a column about his or her favourite public figure or issue, our team at the NCC spends a decent amount of time explaining the role of the columnist or critic. It is part of the service, you might say.
 John Fraser I am a former arts reviewer and former political commentator, so believe me I know exactly how exercised readers can get about opinion mongering. I often find myself explaining what I firmly believe is the matrix of a healthy political or performing arts life in any community and it usually involves engaging the public through reviews or commentaries that are studied in their provocation. If, on the other hand, a writer makes factual errors, it is a legitimate source of complaint with which we always deal very seriously. If it’s a matter of “he says, I say”, then we try to put it in the context of acceptable community standards and practice.
 John Fraser wrote an award winning book on his experience in China where he reported for the Globe and Mail. This usually works to the complainant’s satisfaction, but sometimes it doesn’t. In one such encounter we have had recently, we listened for an age (and several times) to a complaint about an editorial in a leading newspaper. The complainant was exercised by the fact that there were conflicting facts which emerged after an editorial had been published (a day later in fact). His solution was to ask the NNC to order the newspaper to add a note to the digital version of the editorial which said, in effect, “This was researched and written before counterbalancing facts emerged.”
We tried to explain that this was something that could be put on almost any article anyone published. The logic escaped him and he is probably still complaining to anyone who will listen that both the newspaper and the NNC lack 20-20 hindsight – or is it foresight? Hindsight, in fact, we have. Foresight is for unanswerable or unresolvable complaints.
By Greg Woodruff
April 6th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
City council will begin discussion of the draft Official Plan this week. Opinions are already being formed.
There are so many problems with Burlington’s official plan update that it’s hard to zero in on the most problematic element. Leaving alone for a moment the massive green space loss or the complete lack of any mathematical forecasting, the transit plan is truly insane.
My largest problem when running for Regional Chair in 2014 is that I just could not get people to accept what the cities future transit plans actually are. People would just say “That is crazy” and look at me like I must not understand the plan. Either read what is coming out of the city or take my word for it. The future of Burlington is city wide deliberately induced gridlock.
I realize that this is so divorced from reality that the average resident of Burlington simply cannot accept this is the cities plan. It is simple – keep jamming people in until roads are mostly impassible and largely slower than walking. People will then seek “alternatives” once they realize they can walk or bike to a location in just hours vs multiple hours of driving. If you are disabled, elderly or have a schedule that doesn’t support biking, stay home or get out of Burlington.
The first problem is that I would say you need a public mandate to do this. This certainly does not exist. The draft says the public must “Reprioritize decision-making relating to mobility” (Page 14 in the link below). Right now for example you might like to drive to the gym. In the new city walking and biking should be your forms of city recommend exercise. In the future city staff will decide what you do, how and when you move around. The city needs to execute the mandate of citizens, not try to force everyone to do as they think we should.
The second problem is that the transit plan cannot withstand even light mathematical examination. It can’t possibly achieve its own goals. You won’t see numeric calculations coming from the city – because they won’t add up. To believe that 300,000 people are place-able in Burlington with “No New Car Capacity” (Page 15 in the link below) is to believe we will have pedestrian rates orders of magnitude higher than Paris France. As I delegated to council:
Even if you line up Paradigm developments along every possible place all the way down Plains road – you will never get a pedestrian commercial base. There is no mathematically possible pedestrian city on a single straight road. Cities are built in grids for a reason – it is the only way to get transit time low and have the density for a partly pedestrian customer base.
The last problem and most deeply troubling aspect of this is the underlying theory behind it. This mentality places the city in direct opposition to you. Your goal might be to take your kids to soccer practice. This “unsustainable transit pattern” makes the city wish you didn’t. You want to visit your Mother after work – the city wishes you didn’t. It’s all to pretend that intensification doesn’t need increased infrastructure to support it. That an infinitely increasing population doesn’t cost anything in money or environment because the city now rations “what is” out.
They can’t figure out a transportation strategy for this mess of intensification. So now “untransportation” is desirable. Not enough water – the public must “Reprioritize decision-making relating to bathing.” Not enough parks – the public must “Reprioritize decision-making relating to sports activities.” This “reprioritization” is to no longer do what is best for yourself, but instead do what city planners have rationed out for you.
Since we still live in a democracy – it will not work. Once the main streets are nothing but micro businesses very few trips will be to them; just past them. The constant gridlock will be the largest issue and people will not care beyond mobility. This will give rise to and elect a class of politician that will run on and expand the road base. Though since staff have worked deliberately to make this difficult, the roads will now expand in ugly and awkward way.
If you want 300,000 people in Burlington then we need developments totally concentrated in the down town core – it’s the only place with a grid. Yes, you will need an aggressive walking, biking and public transit strategy. But you will also need the major arteries of Burlington expanded to 6 lanes, plus a dedicated bike path, plus a large public walking space. You can get into fanciful debates as to what you want to do in those extra lanes – single passenger cars, rapid bus transit, street car, etc. But they need to be reserved and planned as if they will exist.
There is no possible benefit to this gridlock – hundreds of thousands of cars idling and caught in congestion will have a far higher environmental footprint than a hand full of bikers can ever offset. Congestion helps big box retailers and hurts small business – this can only lead to greater commercial concentration. The idea “if you build roads people are going to use them” so if we stop building them people will then not use to road we didn’t build.
This is just idiocy. If you feed starving children they are just going to keep eating and eating; to a point yes. If you provide houses with water people are just going to keep bathing and bathing; to a point yes. However I consider the ability to feed, bath and get my kids to soccer – all as positives.
I’m pretty sure the rest of Burlington does as well.
Background link:
Official Plan report to city council committee
 Greg Woodruff is an Aldershot resident who rant for the office of Regional chair in the last municipal election.
 By Staff
April 5th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Water in the creeks and streams is already quite high and flowing swifter than normal.
 Conservation Halton advises that another weather system is forecasted to bring rain to our region later this afternoon through Thursday, changing to wet snow Thursday night. Significant widespread rainfall amounts of 20 to 30 mm are likely by Thursday night with some areas possibly exceeding 40 mm.
The majority of the creeks are running at, or above, seasonal levels and are expected to experience higher levels and flows with the upcoming precipitation due to our saturated soil conditions. Our reservoirs are still in range of our seasonal holding levels and have storage capacity available.
Widespread flooding is not anticipated, 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 to stay away from watercourses and structures such as bridges, culverts and dams. Elevated water levels, fast flowing water, and slippery conditions along stream banks make these locations extremely dangerous. Please alert children in your care of these imminent dangers.
By Pepper Parr
April 5th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
It was the same room, basically the same crowd three years later, but the mood was a lot different.
Last week the Carriage Gate group told the public what they had in mind for the corner of Brant and James Street – across the street from city hall.
They set out a number of charts and large blow ups at the front of the room of the 27 story tower they wanted to build – one got the impression that the developer was going to talk about the project. Everything seemed to be out front.
Three years ago the Adi Development Group was in the same room. There were no large blow ups of the project they were about to explain to the public and the audience was in no mood to listen. That project kept going downhill from the moment the architect began to explain the project and is now before the Ontario Municipal Board.
 Twenty seven storey’s high – directly across the street from city hall. The mood was so positive that if the Carriage Gate people had had some sales agreements on the table there were people in the room quite prepared to sign on the dotted line and put down a deposit.
There were some who thought it was a “terrible” idea and the issue of traffic and parking reared its head. Burlington and cars have always had an awkward relationship.
Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward, who is no fan of tall buildings, got the meeting off to a decent start. The Mayor and ward 3 Councillor John Taylor were on hand along with a couple of other people from the city’s planning department.
 Four mobility hubs are in the planning process. The plan appears to be to focus on the downtown hub first. The public got to hear about the group that has been created to study and develop the concept of “mobility hubs” – something that has become the most recent buzz word for planners.
Kyle Plas, the senior city planner on this project explained where the project was from a planners perspective and took the audience through the process of getting it before city council where a decision is made.
Carriage Gate is looking for both Official Plan changes and zoning changes. This project would come under the existing Official Plan which is now more than 20 years old and as Mark Bayles, the Carriage Gate manager who would be overseeing the development of the project, explained in his opening comments “the existing plan no longer reflects where development is going.
 From th left, Robert Glover, an urban planner, Ed Fothergill, planer and Mark Bales, project manager with Carriage Gate Carriage Gate has assembled a solid team to shepherd this through the approvals process.
Ed Fothergill, a planning consultant who has advised on many of the Molinaro projects and was the advisor to the Carriage Gate people on this project explained the planning environment that everyone has to work within.
 Policy documents that set out the rules planners have to work within and comply with. It includes the provinces Provincial Policy Statement in which the province sets out where the growth is going to take place; the Greenbelt policy, which for Burlington means the Escarpment and The Big Move which is the framework that the GO transit people work within out of which comes the mobility hub concept.
The GO train service west of Toronto is going to be improved to 15 minute service and eventually it will be electrified.
The improvement in GO frequency is intended to get cars off the QEW and handle the expected population growth.
 Close up of the Brant street side of the building. The city wanted smaller shops at the street level; the developer had no problem complying. The restaurant on the site is to be included in the building. Many in Burlington don’t like the idea of growth – but the population of the city is going to grow – the province has said that is what is in the cards, and because we can no longer grow out, – there isn’t much more left for development within the urban boundary for new development the growth will be up, not out. Thus the high rise.
Given that there are going to be buildings in the 27 story and higher range where should they go?
Robert Glover, an architect and planner with the Bousfields, a community planning firm that has handled some of the more impressive developments in Ontario gave the audience his take on how Burlington and high rise buildings are going to learn to live together.
 Tall buildings in Burlington tend to be away from the downtown core and on either side of Brant Street. He explained that Burlington has a lot of tall buildings – mostly in the 8 to 12 storey range that are set out in different parts of the city with a concentration along Maple Avenue.
Glover said his view was that with buildings all over the city Brant Street was sort of an orphan with very little that would attract pedestrian traffic. The view he put forward was that Brant needed to become the spine that buildings would be anchored along. The Carriage Gate project was to be the first. The development that is known at this point by it’s address – 421 Brant – they have yet to release the name for the project.
 The view from the corner of John and James. Glover set out how he thought the city and the high rise development that is on its way would evolve. Brant Street would become the spine on which development would be anchored. The Street would have one of the four mobility hubs at the bottom one block to the east and a second mobility hub at Fairview – a part of a block to the east.
The public in general doesn’t know all that much about mobility hubs – the city has planned a public meeting for April 12th where people can get to meet the Mobility Hubs Team.
The houses in the city are now so expensive – we are seeing $1 million homes in what are described as normal suburban communities.
 Nick Carnicelli The principles in any development seldom take to the stage. They sit in the audience and listen carefully trying to get a sense of the audience and how they feel about the project that is being explained. Nick Carnicelli sat off to the side and seemed satisfied with the way the meeting had gone.
He had every reason to feel satisfied – his people had put on a good presentation; they answered all the questions and didn’t duck any of the issues.
Parking seemed to be the one that bothered people the most. The plan presented called for 183 parking spots; one for each unit in the building. If there is going to be a problem with this project that is probably where the city will ask for changes. The design calls for four levels of parking.
 By Staff
April 5th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The Halton District School Board has whittled the 30 plus options that were put before the PARC down to five.
The Board set out a rationale for each option and provided maps showing what the boundaries will be for each of the five options
The Gazette has pulled together the five maps along with the rationale and make them available to the public.
Nelson high school closes in June 2018
  Rationale:
To be an English only school.
Burlington Central HS: Catchment expands east to Walker’s Line.
Burlington Central HS: Utilization rates increase to 93% by 2020, then expected to increase.
Nelson HS: Closes in June 2018
Robert Bateman HS: English – catchment expands west to Walker’s Line. FI catchment extends to Guelph Line. (Current Nelson HS catchment)
Robert Bateman HS: FI program added.
Robert Bateman HS: Utilization rates increase to 104% by 2020, then declines4 rationale.
Robert Bateman HS: Closes in June 2018.
  RATIONALE: Staff generated option.
Staff modified based on PARC comments:
To create suitable facilities for SC
SPED and Essential at Nelson
Food Service program to be relocated from Robert Bateman HS to Nelson HS
Extend Lester B. Pearson HS catchment to increase enrolments.
ISSUES:
Lester B. Pearson HS to gain the IB program and Gifted Secondary Placement Program.
Low enrolments at Aldershot HS and Burlington Central HS
Low Utilization at M.M. Robinson HS
NOTES
Aldershot HS: Utilization rates increase to 87% by 2020, then expected to decrease.
Aldershot HS: No change to the Aldershot HS catchment. Enrolment is under 500 students.
Burlington Central HS: Boundary expands to include areas east of Guelph Line.
Burlington Central HS: Utilization rates increase to 74% in 2020 and continue to increase until 2024.
Nelson HS: SC
–
SPED and ESS programming (both under SC-SPED) and Food Services added. New facilities to be constructed.
Nelson HS: ENG catchment expands to include Robert Bateman HS.
Nelson HS: Utilization rates expected to increase to 112%, by 2020, then are projected to decline in 2023.
Robert Bateman HS: Closes in June 2018.
M.M. Robinson HS: ENG boundary to expand to include Kilbride PS.
M.M. Robinson HS: Utilization rates remain under 65%
No schools closed – catchment boundaries are revised.
  RATIONALE: Staff generated option.
Staff modified based on PARC comments:
Removed capping from Dr. Frank J Hayden HS and reduced catchment.
Extend Lester B. Pearson HS catchment to increase enrolments.
ISSUES:
Lester B. Pearson HS to gain the IB program and Gifted Secondary Placements.
Low enrolments at Aldershot HS, Burlington Central SS, Lester B Pearson HS and Robert Bateman HS
Low Utilization at M.M. Robinson HS
NOTES
Aldershot HS: Utilization rates increase to 87% by 2020 , then expected to decrease.
Aldershot HS: No change to the Aldershot HS catchment. Total enrolment is under 500 students.
Burlington Central HS: No change to the Burlington Central HS catchment or enrolments.
Burlington Central HS: Utilization rates increase to 69% in 2020 and continue to increase until 2024.
Nelson HS: No change to the Nelson HS catchment.
Nelson HS: Utilization rates expected to increase to 84%, by 2020, then are projected to decline in 2024.
Robert Bateman HS: No change to the Robert Bateman HS catchment. Enrolment is under 500 English and IB students.
Robert Bateman HS: Utilization rates are expected to decline to below 50% from 2022.
M.M. Robinson HS: ENG boundary to expand to include Florence Mears PS west of Walker’s Line.
M.M. Robinson HS: Utilization rates remain under 65%.
Close Central and Pearson: The original recommendation
  RATIONALE: Director’s Recommendation
Staff modified based on PARC comments:
ESL Program to Aldershot HS
Specialty programs Robotics to be transferred to Nelson HS.
Transfer empty space from Aldershot Elementary to Aldershot Secondary school
Additional students to Robert Bateman HS catchment
ISSUES:
EXTF program added to M.M. Robinson HS.
FI program added to Robert Bateman HS.
PAR will be required for the Burlington Central elementary communities.
NOTES:
Aldershot HS: Boundary to expand east to Brant St.
Aldershot HS: 210 empty pupil places at Aldershot Elementary PS to be added to the Secondary school OTG. Currently not included in the 558OTG.
Aldershot HS: Utilization rates increase to 142% by 2020, then expected to decrease. Utilization rates will decrease with the addition of available pupil places from the elementary facility.
Burlington Central HS: Closes in June 2018.
Nelson HS: Boundary is to be expanded west to Brant Street.
Nelson HS: Utilization rates increase to 80% by 2020, then expected to decrease.
Robert Bateman HS: ENG boundary expands to include all of the Frontenac PS catchment.
Robert Bateman HS: FI program added and includes students east of Appleby Line and south of Upper Middle Rd and Frontenac PS students
Pearson closes
  RATIONALE: Based on a PARC Request. Staff modified based on PARC comments:
To balance enrolments north of the QEW.
To create suitable facilities for SC
SPED and Essential at Nelson
–
Food Service program from Robert Bateman HS to Nelson HS
ISSUES:
SC-SPED, ESS programs relocated from Robert Bateman HS to Nelson HS.
International Baccalaureate (IB) program relocated from Robert Bateman HS to Burlington Central HS.
FI program removed from Dr. Frank J. Hayden SS.
Nelson HS exceeds Total Capacity.
Low enrolments at Aldershot HS
EXTF program added to M.M. Robinson HS.
NOTES:
Aldershot HS: Utilization rates increase to 87% by 2020, then expected to decrease.
Aldershot HS: No change to the Aldershot HS catchment. Total enrolment is under 500 students.
Burlington Central HS: Boundary expands to include areas east of Guelph Line.
Burlington Central HS: International Baccalaureate program to be added.
Burlington Central HS: Utilization rates increase to 90% in 2020 and continue to increase until 2024.
Nelson HS: SC-SPED and ESS programming (both under SC-SPED) and Food Services added. New Facilities to be constructed.
By Staff
April 5, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
I.T. will be doing maintenance on the online Interactive Mapping/Open Data Wednesday, April 5, 2017 from 5 to 8 p.m.
During that time, users may experience delays or disruptions.
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What isn’t as simple if finding the political will to do that. Phone calls to a Councillor from a large house in that cul de sac has more weight than a call from a single parents who has trouble getting to work because the bus schedule was changed.
If Gribbons is right and he can succeed in creating a coalition that is large enough to offset the impact of those who believe that God gave them the right to drive their cars to wherever they want to go the Bfast people might manage to bring about some change in the way transit is funded.
