 By Ray Rivers
February 17th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Patrick Brown has put the ‘Progressive’ back into the Ontario PC party, as he gears up to give Kathleen Wynne a run for her money in the next provincial election in 2018. His mission is to move his party back to where it was before Tim Hudak took it on a wild joy ride that ultimately alienated the voters.
 Patrick Brown, leader of the Progressive Conservative opposition party at Queen’s Park. He acknowledges that climate change is real, is caused by humans, and he is in favour of a provincial carbon tax to help mitigate it.
Brown sounds like he’d adopt the B.C. carbon tax model if he got a chance. B.C.’s carbon tax increases over time and is intended to be revenue-neutral since income taxes have already been correspondingly reduced. Not everyone in his own party agrees with him on the idea of a carbon tax though. Perhaps that has something to with it being federal Liberal policy.
Brown opposes Premier Kathleen Wynne’s more complicated ‘cap and trade’ approach to carbon pricing/taxation. Implemented this year, there is an annual provincial greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) cap, which declines every year in line with Canada’s strategy on climate change. All large emitters must buy GHG allowances annually to operate their businesses. As we’ve already seen at the gas pumps, the oil companies and utilities will pass much of the cost of the allowances onto their customers, much like the B.C. carbon tax does.
 Air pollution coming out of Hamilton smoke stacks. The big difference with Ontario’s system is that the price of carbon here eventually gets determined in the market place by the buyers and sellers of allowances. This will eventually take place through an auction, rather than arbitrarily by government decree. It is conceivable in Ontario, though perhaps unimaginable, that the price of carbon could be lower in some future year, because of lower demand for allowances relative to the annual cap – something that wouldn’t ever happen with a flat carbon tax.
A second difference is that Ontario’s system is not intended to be revenue-neutral. The provincial government actually intends to spend much of the proceeds from allowance sales on transit infrastructure and for subsidies to business and consumers to assist them to adopt low carbon technologies, like electric vehicles. The provincial folks feel that is a more effective way to help consumers reduce their carbon footprint, rather than simply lowering their income taxes.
Ontario’s cap and trade will also include provisions for smaller entities to create emission credits, also called offsets, and sell these in the market place alongside allowances. For example a hog farmer could convert methane emissions (~30 times more potent that CO2) into useable energy, thereby reducing those emissions and offsetting his/her normal electricity or heating requirements. Being able to sell carbon credits into the market will provide an additional incentive to spur innovation and help pay for the costs of the technology.
 No air pollution here: an electric charging station in a city garage. Finally since cap and trade is a market instrument it requires a large number of buyers and sellers of GHG allowances and credits to work efficiently. So initially Ontario’s program will be integrated with that of California and Quebec, though other provinces and states may join later. A common trading registry and on-line format will be available for all participants in the cap and trade system.
The whole Ontario approach is complex, but no more complex than what we already see with our security exchanges, trading derivatives, hedge funds, etc. And carbon emissions trading schemes do work, as New Zealand, Japan and Europe can attest, though not always without some warts or hiccups. Emissions trading was actually invented by a University of Toronto economist, John Dales in 1968, though the idea that pollution can be monetized goes back much further in economic history.
The US acid rain cap and trade program is perhaps one of the best examples of the effectiveness of that market-based approach. Even the Harris/Eves government ran a small trading program to reduce nitrogen and sulphur emissions from the former coal-fired electricity plants.
The B.C. carbon tax, Canada’s first, received glowing praise for seeming to reduce GHG emissions during Canada’s last recession. But it has failed to do so once the economy rebounded. Since there is no cap on emissions, those who complain that it is just another tax are right. And there is no guarantee that the federal GHG reduction targets, which the former Harper government established and which the Trudeau government has since adopted, will ever be met.
Another negative is that, like any other sales tax, carbon taxes are regressive. Revenue neutrality just means there is a re-distribution of income – a reverse Robin Hood effect – giving the extra money the poorer folks paid to fill their gas tanks to those better off through their income tax reductions. Ontario’s system will still hurt the poor but at least there should be tangible alternatives for them to access lower carbon technology, including, hopefully, less costly transit.
Mr. Brown is certainly on the right track in telling his party to get behind the climate change struggle. He just needs to put politics behind him, listen to the business community and think through on the advantages of the cap and trade program Ontario has just started to implement. And while taking the tarnish off the ‘P’ in his party’s name, he should recall that there is no shame in adopting somebody else’s good idea, but it would be a shame to change just for the sake of change.
 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:
Patrick Brown – B.C. Carbon Tax – Federal Position –
Climate Deniers – GHG – Canada’s Strategy – What is Cap and Trade –
An Opposing View –
 By Staff
February 17th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The manner in which police services across the country have handled sexual assault complaints from women has been the subject of reports in numerous newspapers. The Globe and Mail is currently running a series of articles on what are being described as “unfounded” decisions made by police officers.
An “unfounded” decision made by a police officer results in a complaint ending with no resolution for the person who took the complaint to the police.
The Halton Regional Police Service (HRPS) has released results of an internal audit of its unfounded 2016 sexual assault occurrences.
The comprehensive review was undertaken in response to last week’s Globe and Mail feature article by Robyn Doolittle that examined the number of unfounded sexual assault occurrences reported by Canadian law enforcement agencies over a five-year period (2010-2014).
 A total of 57 unfounded sexual assault occurrences from 2016 were examined. All were determined to have been properly and thoroughly investigated. Unfounded is a Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) term that is one way for a police service to close an occurrence.
Unfounded does not mean the police do not believe a victim or person reporting. All reported incidents are fully investigated.
Of the 57 incidents examined, 15 (or 8.3 per cent) did not occur or could not have occurred as reported. In the remaining 42 cases (representing 74 per cent of all unfounded sexual assault occurrences) it was determined through the completion of thorough investigations that a criminal offence had not been committed.
In all criminal investigations there are facts in issue that must be present and proven to meet the Criminal Code requirements. In the aforementioned 42 incidents, the required elements to meet the definition of a sexual assault were not met, and therefore even if the other involved person(s) was or were known, charges could not be laid.
As a result of the review and in accordance with the recent recommendation of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) that all police services review practices around sexual assault investigations, the HRPS undertook an additional examination of existing internal policy and procedure. While found to be fully compliant with provincial mandates ensuring that all sexual assault investigations are carried out in a professional manner and in a way that best meets the needs of victims, the Service has made one revision: effective immediately, all incidents reported as a sexual assault will be reviewed by the Detective Sergeant of the Child Abuse and Sexual Assault Unit (CASA).
“Our Service is committed to the thoroughness of all criminal investigations and we pride ourselves in our victim-centered approach to supporting those impacted by crime,” said Chief Tanner. “We were honoured to have been recognized for our efforts in this area with the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Award of Excellence in Victim Services in 2016.”
In addition to in-house victim support, the HRPS collaborates with, and seeks feedback from, several independent victim advocacy groups, including Sexual Assault & Violence Intervention Services (SAVIS).
“SAVIS and the Halton Regional Police Service work closely together to enhance working relationships by collaborating in training and in providing support to victims of sexual assault and sexual violence from a Survivor Approach Model,” said Alma Arguello, Executive Director of SAVIS. “The HRPS, with SAVIS’ input, plays an important role in investigating and supporting Survivors of sexual violence in our community. SAVIS provides the HRPS with critical training and timely information to assist them in their duties.”
 Halton Regional Chief of police Stephen Tanner. The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services (MCSCS) conducts regular audits of all municipal police services in Ontario on a rotational basis. MCSCS is about to embark on its next series of audits. Chief Tanner and the Halton Regional Police Service invite the Ministry to audit all aspects of its policies and procedures relating to the conduct of sexual assault investigations in Halton.
Chief Tanner said: “The Halton Regional Police Service is committed to the safety and well-being of each member of the community we serve. Our Service recognizes the severity of sexual assault crimes and investigates all reports thereof with the utmost respect for victims, and in accordance with provincial regulations and guidelines”.
 By Pepper Parr
February 17th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The GTA benchmark price for various types of housing sold last month hit $705,900 up 22.6% from a year earlier and a 60.8% surge from five years earlier.
Wendell Cox, an Illinois based urban policy consultant who is a senior fellow at the Winnipeg based Frontier Centre for Public policy said that the provincial government “needs to relax restrictions on the Greenbelt – protected land on the fringes of the GTA”
Cox added: “When you have a boiling pot and you put a lid on it, the pressure only gets worse. Unless land use policies are reformed to allow for sufficient supply in the urban fringe prices will continue to go up”
 These 600 people did not want a highway through the Escarpment. The urban fringe supply they are talking about is our escarpment – and at some point there will be a tremendous amount of pressure on the Regional government to allow development north of the Dundas QEW border that is the current urban-rural Burlington boundary.
The province just might decide to tell the Region that the dividing line is going to move.
Recall the attempt to ram a highway through the escarpment a number of years ago.
 The province sprung that one on the city with little notice. A tremendous effort by the No Highway group brought it a halt – as much because the province began to question their own thinking – the drive was coming from the provincial Ministry of Transportation that saw serious traffic congestion with trucks needing to get to the American border.
President Donald Trump just might solve that problem for us. However the plans to construct a new bridge river the Detroit River ensure that there will be even more traffic heading out of Ontario. At the rate Trump is babbling away he might well be gone before any bridge is completed.
None of this of course changes what can happen to Burlington’s rural area.
The city needs to have a clear defined and well-presented public opinion which calls for some leadership at both the Regional and municipal levels.
 It used to be public land – now it is privately owned and will remain that way for a long long time – probably forever. Mayor Goldring’s gift to the city. City council had no problem selling off a chunk of waterfront land between Market and St. Paul streets along Lakeshore Road when the only pressure that existed was from a couple of property owners that saw an opportunity to make an offer for the land that existed in a city document. That small patch of land put an end to a really solid Waterfront Trail.
To add insult to injury – the city got very little in the way of cold hard cash – the bulk of the money went to the Ministry of Natural Resources that owned much of the land.
If the people of Burlington want to maintain what they have – they will have to be forever vigilant. And look for leadership that will be vigilant as well.
By Pepper Parr
February 16, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
They don’t call it grass roots organizing for nothing.
It is when you go out into the streets and invite people to a meeting that you hear and learn what the issues really are.
Wednesday evening, Central Strong, the parent group at Central high school, invited people to a meeting to hear what they had to say about how the Program Accommodation Review (PAR) process was going.
 Setting out chairs for a crowd that reached the 100 people level. Not all that good at this point according to Ward 2 city Councillor Marianne Meed Ward who is one of the two Central high school community reps on the Program Accommodation Review Committee (PARC).
The people putting the meeting together had no idea how many people were going to show up – they set out 50 chairs and hoped for the best. They ended up setting up more than 100 chairs.
The meeting was orderly and a lot of useful and significant information came to the surface. There were people in the room who took part in preventing a closure of the school in 1978 and again in 1998. These were tested and proven community activists.
The mood was upbeat – Ian Farwell, the other Central high representative on the PARC told the audience that this is not a done deal.
Meed Ward said she felt that whatever the decision was it should be a better outcome for the students and added that closing Central where 92% of the students walk to school and bussing them to another school is not a better solution.
Some felt that forcing students to leave their community for an education is a Human Rights matter – that may be a bit of a stretch, but it does reflect the depth of feeling the patents have for the strength of their community and how they feel.
What came through very clearly was that the process is flawed and that the board is not being transparent. New information comes in and it doesn’t get the attention it deserves was a common complaint.
During the meeting at which PARC members were asked to set out which option met the PARC Framework criteria and which ones did not – the meeting was told that it was going to cost approximately $10 million to get the schools up to the AODA standard and how much would be saved if Central and Pearson were closed.
 PARC members with the sheets of paper on the meeting room wall where they would indicate the option that they felt should be recommended to the Director of Education. Shortly after being given this information, with no opportunity for debate, the PARC members were then asked to put dots on the option they favoured. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if closing Central would save $3 million in AODA costs and several more million in operating costs – why the board recommendation – Option 19 – got more dots than any other option,
Several parents made much of the boards transportation policy – they built Hayden so students would not have to be bussed out of that community and now they want to close two schools in southern Burlington and bus those students out of their community.
“A dumb idea” called out one parent. Very few parents were calling out abusive comments – these were people who came to listen, to have their concerns heard and then to talk through options.
In 1998 when the board wanted to close Central the community held a parade up Brant Street. That was the tipping point in public opinion then said one parent. Look for another parade this third attempt to close Central high school.
 Dania Thurman, one of the spokes people for Central Strong  Lynne Crosby, one of the spokes people for Central strong. Lynne Crosby and Dania Thurman, the two spokes people for the Central parents, did a 25 minute interview on CHML during which they were asked where the Mayor of the city stood on all this. “Ask him” the two responded. Burlington is represented in the PARC process by city manager James Ridge who the Mayor said had volunteered to take on the task. Ridge attends as an observer and does not get to vote on anything. So far he has spoken on one occasion when he said all development in Burlington is taking place above the QEW. There is much more current condo development taking place south of the QEW. Few are impressed with Ridge’s comment up to this point.
The Central crowd was even less than impressed with the facilitator working for the board from Ipsos Reid. Some felt the board should have asked for someone else to serve the boards need or cancel the contract.
Kirk Perris handled the December 8th meeting at which a lot of data was captured though a process that most saw as poorly design and badly executed. Perris did say later that it wasn’t one of his better days. No kidding!
Central parents point out that were the board to close Bateman high school and redistribute those students to Nelson and M.M. Robinson 1340 of the 1800 empty seat problem would be resolved.
 Several hundred families could well move into the townhouses being built at the Aldershot Go Station. Were Central to be closed Aldershot high school would suddenly have a massive problem on its hands. The ADI Station West development is going to add a significant number of students to Aldershot.
Not so says the Board – those are condo’s and family’s don’t choose to live in condo’s. Much of the ADI product is townhouses reply the Aldershot parents who also point to the long delayed Eagles Heights development in the North West corner of the city where 1000 houses are expected to go up.
There is a bigger long term impact on the downtown core that Central parents feel most people aren’t getting.
Meed Ward put it front and center when she said that if Central is closed there will never be another high school in the downtown core – that land will be far too expensive. “If we let this go we will have lost a downtown high school forever.”
The audience was asked how many of them knew people who attended Central lived in condos or apartments – more than 20% of the hands in the room went up in the air. That surprised a lot of people.
One of the parents involved in the 1998 battle pointed out that the parents have a much more compelling argument this time around. The fear Central Strong has is that not enough people are fully aware of just how serious the problem is. “The board is worried” said one parent “they realize this is not going their way and they don’t know what to do about that”.
The two Central PARC members claim that on two occasions when they have raised an issue they were told they were out of order and their issue was dismissed. Ian Farrell is not the kind of person you want to attempt to dismiss lightly.
The process bothers many. Meed Ward complained that the PARC members have not been given a formal opportunity to dialogue – the moderation is terrible; it is a frustrating process; we are in a tough situation, she added.
Many of the PARC members from other schools are breathing a sigh of relief and saying to themselves “at least it is not us” when it is very clear that all, except for Hayden high school, are at risk.
 Sharon Picken is one of the two Bateman high school PARC members. A very strong advocate for keeping that high school open. The Bateman people certainly understand that and are putting up fierce arguments about even the idea of closing tat school.
“Rationality has left the room” was a comment heard.
The Ward 1 and 2 school board trustee arrived late – she was king part in one of the board’s regular meetings and left that event early to speak. Asked where do the trustees get their information as they prepare to vote, Leah Reynolds replied that they are waiting to see what comes out of the PARC process.
Reynolds added that the trustees do not see what he PARC members get sent to them or say to each other.
 Burlington trustees Grebenc and Reynolds attend every PARC meeting. Reynolds and the other three Burlington trustee attend the PARC meetings as observers. Grebenc and Reynolds attend every meeting – the other two Collard and Papin are more sporadic in their attendance. Collard will be facing strong pressure to not back a Bateman closing.
Reynolds attended a meeting of Aldershot parents and learned that many did not know the school closing process was even taking place.
A shock to the people taking part in the Central strong meeting, which took place at the Lions community hall, was that 60% of the people in the room had children in school at the elementary level – these people were very concerned about where there children were going to spend their high school years
The meeting was told that the argument being put forward by the board is that larger high schools are able to offer a much larger choice of programs than small schools – yet the student survey made it clear that there are more course conflicts at Hayden, the largest high school, than at any other high school.
What parents are finding is that the information they are given just does not square with the on the ground reality they are facing.
Many just don’t have any confidence in the process and don’t believe the board staff are telling them the full story.
The PARC members for Central said that there are far too many walk on pieces of information. Meed Ward said some information is put in front of them without their being any opportunity to discuss or dialogue.
When the PARC is told just how much the AODA changes are going to save and then told a few minutes later how much is going to be saved if option 19 – close two high schools – is chosen and then they are asked to choose the options they like best, of course option 19 us chosen. Meed Ward and her colleague Ian Farwell felt the PARC members were being manipulated.
It was a successful grass roots community meeting – what comes out of it will be seen in the days and weeks ahead.
 The end of all this is May 17th, when the 11 trustees cast their votes. Meed Ward put it well when she said “we are in the valley” right now, “in a trough” that we need to get out of that trough.
Would a march up Brant Street make a difference?
 By Staff
February 16th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Quite why the Regional government would assign one of their communications advisors the task of preparing a media release on their credit rating is WORD
However we can now tell you that Moody’s Investors Service has upheld Halton Region’s Aaa credit rating—the agency’s highest—for the 29th consecutive year.
Profiling Halton’s strong governance and prudent fiscal policies, as well as its forward-looking operating and capital plans, Moody’s credit opinion report demonstrates a high level of confidence in the Region’s continued success.
 Regional administration offices are in Oakville. “Halton’s Aaa rating ranks us at the top end of Canadian municipalities,” said Halton Regional Chair Gary Carr. “The Region is a transparent, accountable and fiscally responsible government that ensures value for taxpayers’ dollars. We are proud to consistently earn this distinction while providing high-quality services and keeping taxes low—our strong financial position helps keep Halton a great place to live.”
 Halton Region created, in 1974, is made up of four municipalities and is defined as an upper tier of municipal government. Maintaining a Aaa credit rating allows Halton and its local municipalities to finance major investments at the lowest possible long-term costs by providing continued access to the best capital financing rates available. It helps the Region maximize investments in Halton’s future while minimizing costs for taxpayers.
All municipal borrowing is done through the Region and on the strength of their credit rating.
What back up a credit rating is what you have to back up the borrowing. In the Region’s case the strength is the revenue stream which is based on the taxes you pay. Thus that credit rating has more to do with the value of your home.
The Region is for the most part a fiscally responsible level of government. As for transparency and accountability – they don’t earn the same triple a.
Moody’s report on Halton’s financial position highlights the following credit strengths:
• strong operating budgetary results, supported by stable revenues and well-managed expenses;
• prudent fiscal management and a commitment to long-term planning, supporting the generation of strong financial outcomes;
• declining debt burden and high levels of liquidity; and
• diversified economy and strong population growth.
The report also praised the Region’s conservative debt and investment policies, as well as its comprehensive, transparent and timely financial reporting. The agency assigned a stable outlook for Halton, with an expectation that the Region’s financial performance will remain strong.
 By Pepper Parr
February 16th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
If high schools were ever supposed to be a place where the general public could add to their knowledge when the school wasn’t filled with full time students – March 9th is one of those days when that will happen.
Lindsay Mattick the author of Finding Winnie will be at Burlington Central High School March 9th, to talk about her book, the true story of the world’s most famous bear. Starts at 6 p.m there is no admission fee.
 A classic childrens’ book – a true Canadian story to be told at Central high school March 9th. Winnie was a real bear, rescued and trained by Captain Harry Colebourn (Mattick’s great-grandfather) during World War 1. The bear cub went on to inspire author A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh character.
Mattick will autograph copies of her book, which will also be on sale – cash only.
 These were the ships that fought the Battle of the Atlantic, the longest naval battle in history. Shown here is HMCS Haida, currently tied up in Hamilton. The Ontario Genealogical Society, and three veterans from the Friends of HMCS Haida and Burl-Oak Naval Veterans and the Canadian War Museum Memorabilia Box will also be present.
By Staff
February 15th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
There have been ten case of raccoon strain rabies in the Region.
The Halton Region Health Department received test results from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency on February 13 confirming a case of raccoon strain rabies in a skunk found in the City of Burlington. Residents are reminding to avoid all contact with raccoons, skunks and other wild animals.
 Alive they are cute – dead they could be the death of you. They can be pretty stinky as well. Just leave them alone. Rabies is a viral disease that causes severe damage to the brain and spinal cord, and if untreated before symptoms appear will lead to death. The virus is spread through the saliva of an infected animal, usually entering through a bite or scratch.
“Anyone who comes in physical contact with a raccoon or other wild animal should see a physician immediately and contact the Health Department by dialing 311,” said Dr. Daniela Kempkens, Acting Medical Officer of Health for Halton Region. “Halton Region, as well as neighbouring communities, are experiencing a higher than average number of rabies cases and we want residents to be aware of rabies and know how to protect themselves from wild and stray animals.“
After someone is exposed to rabies, timely use of the rabies vaccine can prevent the rabies illness. While the rabies vaccine is extremely effective if it is administered before any symptoms occur, there are a number of things you can do to protect your family and pets from the threat of rabies:
• Seek medical attention immediately if you come in contact with a raccoon, skunk or other potentially rabid animals.
• Report all animal bites or scratches to the Halton Region Health Department.
• Warn your children to stay away from any wild, stray or aggressive animals.
• Do not touch dead or sick animals.
• Do not feed or keep wild animals as pets.
• Make sure your pet’s rabies vaccinations are up to date.
• Keep your pet on a leash when off your property.
• Any pet that has come in contact with a raccoon or other wild animal should be seen by a veterinarian.
By Staff
February 15th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
In order to begin whittling down the 30+ options before the PARC the members of the committee were asked to pair up by school affiliation and offer their input on the outstanding options, (it was now down to 14 options)
Using the 13 point PARC framework, PARC members were asked to write down supporting details to either “Criteria Met,” or “Criteria Not Met,” for a given option, along with any suggestions on the foolscap paper.
Along with the written input expected from PARC members, there was also a “dot-mocracy” exercise. After contributing (and reading others’ contributions) all the outstanding options, PARC members were asked to attach a dot to three options for which they favoured.
 Members of the Program Accommodation Review Committee meeting February 9th. Options that received two or fewer dots were not seen as not having much in the way of support and were dropped from further consideration.
Option 7 ………
No school closures, cap enrollment at Hayden
Criteria Met
Overall: Least disruptive to school communities, given that there are no school closures.
Accommodation of students in a permanent facility
Cost effectiveness of transportation
80% utilization across the city
Regional programming remains an option
Criteria Not Met
Overall: Does not meet a range of outstanding issues, which prompted the PAR
Low utilization persists exacerbating fiscal issues o No precedent or process for capping enrolment
Suggestion: Boundaries could be adjusted to create stable boundaries and allow for growth.
Bateman closes ….
Criteria Met
Overall: Next to Option 7, it is least disruptive to school communities, given that there is only one school closure, and there is a neighbouring school nearby (Nelson) that could absorb some of the Bateman students.
90% utilization rate met
Unified cohorts
Criteria Not Met
Overall: Compromises issues of programming and equity for all HDSB students.
Uncertainty if all programs will be offered (e.g., OYAP, SHSM)
CPP, Essential, and LEAP all move to one school
Balance of enrollment not met (Hayden remains over-capacity; Pearson remains under-capacity)
Nelson requires portables
Split cohorts
Bateman daycare closes
Option 19 ……………
Pearson and Central close; Hayden program change.
Criteria Met
Overall: Disruptive given that two schools are closing, and leaving a large gap in downtown Burlington without an HDSB high school; utilization met.
Full range of programs (mandatory and optional)
Fiscally responsible (utilization rate is improved; transportation savings)
Accommodation of students in permanent schools
Criteria Not Met
Overall: Compromises issues of programming and equity for all HDSB students
Increases use of portables
Increases transportation costs
Elementary PAR will be required; splitting of cohorts
Specialized programming is lost
Does not balance enrollment
Lose Pearson nursery
Walkability decreases
Suggestions:
Tweaks to Aldershot and Bateman to balance enrollment;
Tweaks to facilitate stable long term boundaries (e.g., Increase boundary for FI South Burlington east (Aldershot), move some FI to Nelson and to Bateman
Avoid splitting Pineland cohort between Nelson Bateman
Option 28 ………
Pearson and Central close; Aldershot and Hayden program change
Criteria Met
Overall: Disruptive given that two schools are closing, and leaving a large gap in downtown Burlington without an HDSB high school; utilization met.
Accessibility addressed
Stable boundaries
Good range of programming
Minimal use of portables
Fiscally sound
Criteria Not Met – Overall: Compromises issues of programming and equity for all HDSB students
 PARC members first set out what they felt was and was not met in terms of the Framework criteria – and then their ranking of the options before them. The 14 have now been whittled down to four. Transportation costs are high
Elementary PAR will be required; splitting of cohorts
Specialized programming is lost
Lose Pearson nursery Suggestions:
Increase Bateman enrollment by moving Nelson English boundaries
Increase Aldershot English boundary to include Maple.
Keep Pearson
Correct error in utilization for 2019 at Dr. Frank J. Hayden SS.
This gets the choices down to four options.
What hasn’t been broken out are the increased transportation costs and the cost of additional portables.
This is drifting towards a recommendation to close Central and Pearson high schools.
Remaining scheduled meetings.
 By Staff
February 15th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The Halton District School Board’s Accessibility Plan calls for:
Reasonable provision shall be made to provide accessibility to each building, each building floor space and all types of student program space within each floor space for persons with disabilities such as physical mobility disabilities, visual impairment and hearing impairment.
The total cost to get the high schools to the boards standard is $10,326,837
In a report to the board assessments on the cost of getting the high schools up to the board standard were based on the following information:
Aldershot High School is a grade 7–12 school with a gross floor area (GFA) of approximately 143,000 sq. ft. Originally constructed in the mid-1900s, it is a 2 storey school with additional level changes at various locations on the ground floor. The 2nd floor is accessed by a limited access limited use elevator (LULA) and stair lifts have been installed to address access issues to the various levels of the school. Washrooms appear to have been upgraded but are still below current accessibility standards. The total budget to implement accessibility recommendations is $1,565,066
Burlington Central High School is a 3 storey grade 7-12 school with a GFA of approximately 158,000 sq.ft. The original building was constructed in 1922 and has been added to over the years. The last major addition added a new technical wing and gymnasiums. The auditorium has been upgraded with new seats and equipment. There are currently floor areas of the building that are only accessible by stairs, necessitating both a new elevator and stair lifts for accessibility to all floor areas. The total budget to implement accessibility recommendations is $3,186,106
Lester B. Pearson High School was constructed in 1976. It is a 2 storey school that currently has a single storey ‘porta-pak’ addition that is not in use. The GFA including the porta-pak is approximately 113,000 sq. ft. The 2nd floor is currently accessed by a LULA elevator. The total budget to implement accessibility recommendations is
$1,538,114
M.M. Robinson High School was constructed in 1963. A recent renovation has created a large entrance foyer and includes a full size elevator that provides access to all floor areas. It is a 3 storey school with a GFA of approximately 214,000 sq. ft. The school includes a large wing outfitted for special needs education and several technical shops. The special needs wing is equipped with accessible features that buildings of this age do not often include. The total budget to implement accessibility recommendations is
$1,396,676
Nelson High School was constructed in 1957. The school is a two story building with a GFA of approximately 168,000 sq. ft. 2nd floor areas and a small music wing are currently accessible by LULA elevators. The total budget to implement accessibility recommendations is $1,715,241
Robert Bateman High School was constructed in 1970 (then called Lord Elgin High School). It is a 2 storey school with a GFA of approximately 213,000 sq. ft. The second floor space is accessed by a full sized compliant elevator. The school includes teaching space for many service-related courses, in a variety of technologies and the culinary arts. The school also has a large special needs wing on the ground floor that has several accessibility features in place. The total budget to implement accessibility recommendations is $925,634
If Central and Pearson were closed that cost would be reduced by $4,724,220 for a total of $5,602,617
The information was given to the 14 members of the PARC who are preparing a report to the Director of Education who will in turn prepare a report for the trustees who will make a decision if any o the high schools should be closed and if so – which high schools would be closed.
There are 1800 plus high school classroom seats in Burlington that do not have students in them.
 By Pepper Parr
February 14th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Scott Podrebarac called it dotmocracy – you cast your vote by putting dots on a chart.
It is a process used to get a sense as to where the thinking of a group of people is going.
Sort of like a straw poll.
When the dots (three to each person) were handed out to the 14 people on the PARC who vote – there are a number of advisors – there were 42 dots to be distributed.
The official tally won’t be released until the minutes of the February 9th meeting are published. The publishing of those minutes will be delayed a bit – they have to be signed off by the Chair who is going to be away from his desk for a personal matter for a day or so.
The Gazette has been able learn what the two critical dotmocracy results were:
 Dots shown are not the official count. The final total was 15 dots. Option 19, which was the Director of Education told the trustees was the Staff recommendation got 15 dots and
 Dots shown are not the official count. The final total was 8 dots. Option 7 which was to not close any schools got 9 dots.
The Board staff recommendation got just a little less than one third of the dot votes that were available.
The other votes were all over the map.
So – at this point in time – after three meetings the PARC has yet to settle on a choice – things are still quite fluid.
Aldershot is very concerned about what will happen to them if Central is closed and Bateman is getting scarred silly that they might get closed.
 Central and M.M. Robinson PARC members write there comments on whether or not they felt a particular option met or did not meet the Framework outline. The Board has added another day of PARC meetings and is preparing for the first public meeting.
Given the way the December 8th meeting went and some of the hallway conversations that have taken place between parents and Director of Education Miller – it could get noisy.
Many parents look at the data and the facts that are out there and suggest “we are in this mess because Hayden was built” – and that may be so – but the school was built and it did have a significant impact on the class room capacity. There is nothing that can be done – the building isn’t going to be torn down.
The opportunity does exist for some creative boundary re-alignments – and several parent groups who seem to have more of a grip on the numbers than the Board’s Planning staff have come up with some interesting ideas that are now in front of the PARC people.
What we appear to be seeing at the PARC meetings is each set of parents from the seven schools are beginning to do what they have to do to keep their school open.
Nelson is seen as safe because of its iconic status in the city; M.M. Robinson is going to get more students.
Somewhere in all this there has to be some leadership – from either the board staff or the PARC people.
 Aldershot high school PARC representatives Steve Cussons and Eric Szyiko are both adept at speaking up and making their point. They can see a yard full of portables coming their way if Central is closed. There are some very intelligent people within the PARC – will a natural leader emerge and come up with a recommendation that the trustees can vote for?
Don’t expect to see any leadership from the trustees. That crowd is made up of 8 people who are still learning their jobs and a couple of dinosaurs who let this situation develop. There are exceptions: Donna Danielli, who sits on the PARC as an advisor, is in a position to give the PARC a perspective they need.
At this point the Central people are putting out a very strong case – and they are being very active.
 Sharon Picken, brash and bold but she knows what goes on in the schools. She is one of the two Bateman PARC members. The Bateman people realize that their school is at risk and they are now beginning to organize themselves.
The Pearson people are asking that they be given back the students they once had – those that were sent to Hayden where it is said that students are doing their gym classes in the hallways.
At some point a serious analysis has to be done on how boundaries can be re-aligned so that students are distributed more evenly throughout the buildings that exist.
To add to the mix of issues is the cost of the portables that are apparently going to be needed at Aldershot and the cost of transporting hundreds of students by bus.
 The trustees sit on the sidelines taking it all in – their time will come in May. Somewhere in all this data there is an answer. The Board staff are saying that they have put forward an option – close two of the seven schools.
The parents aren’t buying it – the trustees are sitting quietly on the sidelines figuring out what they will do when crunch time arrives for them.
By Pepper Parr
February 14th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
We weren’t even a country yet when she died. Her father had made a huge impact on how this countries indigenous community would evolve.
 In this portrait Joseph Brant is seen wearing the gorget given to him by King George III. That gorget is the most important piece in the collection at the Joseph Brant Museum. Her Father, Captain Joseph Brant whose land holdings shaped the Burlington we live in today.
150 years ago today Catherine John, the last surviving child of the renowned war chief and diplomat Joseph Brant died.
They were Mohawks. He was known as Theyendanegea, the leader who negotiated the huge land grant along the banks of the Grand River for his people.
The Globe and Mail was close to poetic in its obituary, as it described Catherine John as “tall, handsome – even in old age – and of a queenly bearing.”
 A gorget, a piece of armour worn at the throat given to Joseph Brant by King George III with the inscription: “A Gift from a friend to Captain Brant”.
He was feted by Kings, had his portrait painted by some of the leading British artists. He donated the land on which St. Luke’s Anglican church was built.
The city will not have issued a media release; the Mayor will not say a word publicly and the Brant Museum, closed since last July will have not said a word.
No wonder Brant was buried in Brantford.
 By Staff
February 14th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Housing prices in Toronto and Vancouver were rising so quickly and dangerously – especially in Vancouver, that the Bank of Canada, the federal government, the province of British Columbia, the city of Vancouver the and the Vancouver Real Estate Board all jumped in and did their best to stabilize the situation in BC where things were worst.
Is that same kind of a real estate bubble about to hit Burlington?
The Beachway is a community that is destined to disappear if the current Region and municipal bylaws stay in place and a massive upscale park gets built in the next 20 years.
 An attractive, well maintained home in the Beachway Two houses on the lot. The Region is now taking phone calls from any of the 25+ homeowners in what is left of that community who want to talk about selling.
One property owner with a lot that has two houses close enough to the lake to be able to smell the water has let the Region know that they are prepared to accept $2.3 million.
 $2.3 million eh! Two houses on a lot that fronts onto Lakeshore Road. They want to be able to live in the house for the next three years and have the right to remove some of the building materials when the house has its day with the backhoe.
Most of the houses the Region has bought to date ate now empty lots.
 Citizens looking at the plans for a Park that will take up all of what used to be a the Beachway community. We will do our best to keep you posted on this one.
By Staff
February 13th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
On Friday February 10th 2017 just before 7:30 PM, three male suspects followed another group of three males from the Apple Store to the Sears Store at Mapleview Mall in Burlington.
Once inside Sears, the three suspects accosted the three male victims and demanded they turn over their property. One of the suspects put his hand in front of his waistband causing the victims to believe the suspect was armed. Two of the victims turned over gold chains before the suspects fled into the mall.
 Maple View Mall has one of the most effective security teams in the city. Very little gets past them. Police were called and with the assistance of Mall Security, the suspects were located and arrested after a brief foot chase. The two gold chains were recovered and returned to the victims.
The security team at Mapleview Mall has a very tight grip on what happens on that property – few manage to get away once they have been spotted.
Three male youths (aged 13, 14 & 15) from Hamilton who cannot be named because of their age were each charged with two counts of robbery. Two of the youths were released on a Promise to Appear while the third was held for a bail.
Anyone with information that would assist investigators are encouraged to contact Det. Phil Vandenbeukel – Three District Criminal Investigations Bureau, at 905-825-4747 Ext. 2343. Tips can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers “See something, Hear something, Say something” at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.ca, or by texting “Tip201” with your message to 274637 (crimes).
 By Pepper Parr
February 13, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Everyone needs a place to go; a place where you can congregate with people you like and be accepted for who and what you are.
Some head for the Legion to meet up with friends, others have made the Seniors’ Centre their social headquarters.
A lot of business people belong to a social club; Burlington has four Rotary Clubs.
There are all kinds of places where people gather for the social interaction we all need.
 Friday night community – when Wellington Square United Church hosts 350+ for dinner and socializing. The couple of dozen volunteers make it happen. Wellington Square United Church has a really large group of people who gather on Friday evenings to enjoy a meal and get caught up with their friends.
We talked to Lisa Lunski who runs a program at Wellington Square – we made a mistake.
If you want to talk to Lisa meet with her any time other than Friday evening. She can somehow carry on a conversation with a person and at the same time greet people she knows by name as they pass by.
It’s an amazing skill that she uses effortlessly – As I interviewed Lisa I wondered if I was getting the full story and if I really had her full attention.
When I reviewed my notes – I had most of what I needed. During the 20 minutes or so that we talked she managed to greet 30 to 35 people.
Lunski, runs a household with five children, several of them adopted. She is the Friday Night Community coordinator at Wellington Square United Church.
 Addison Wood, Sierra Campbell (both in Grade 9 and attend Wellington Square), Angelica Alves (Grade 11 at Assumption) Lunski explains that “Every Friday we join together and reconnect with friends. Some folks are there every Friday and when we don’t see them they are missed. Friends hold each other accountable and even take it upon themselves to find out why another was absent. It is always a joy when folks come in our doors who we have not seen in a long time.
 Lisa Lunski with a Friday Night Community guest. “We continue to have new friends come to volunteer each week. We appreciate the patience folks show when taking people under their wing and walking alongside them with kindness and grace.”
People from the Meeting House in Burlington come to prepare, serve and clean up after the meal. A group shows up each week from Eaglesfield Korean Church, with open hearts for serving and clean the dirtiest of dirty dishes each and every week.
 Jeong-soon, Sofia, Heesoon, from Eaglesfield Korean Community Church. Everyone at some point faces a crisis. In December of 2013 the city experienced an ice storm that took power out of hundreds of homes – north Burlington was hardest hit. Farmers needed electricity to pump water for their cattle. Chicken farmers needed generators to keep the electricity going in their buildings.
Hundreds gathered in the fire hall in Kilbride to share information and get the help they needed.
The following year the east of Burlington got hit by what we look back on and call an instant flood. Once again hundreds of homes we damaged; on was moves a bit off its foundation. The creeks in the east end of the city were not able to handle the rush of water; people needed help.
The citizens and corporations of Burlington raised just shy of $1million in less than 100 days.
Some people need help on an occasion where they are overwhelmed- others need help on a more ongoing basis.
The character of a community is seen when the help is there.
 Dozens of bins hold the food collected by Nelson high school students for distribution by different community agencies throughout the year. Each year hockey players from across the city take part in the Gift of Giving Back event that has the players collecting food that gets delivered to the participating high school each year. Last year the drive was centered on M.M. Robinson,
 This November will mark the 12th year the program has been run. It is that food that gets sent to Food Banks where it is distributed to places like Wellington Square where several hundred are fed each Friday night.
The food is good – but it is about far more than filling a stomach.
An “eco” system has developed that has those students from Nelson high school gathering the food –it goes to Burlington Food Bank and Food For Life where it is then distributed to the three churches in Burlington that are feeding large groups of people in a community setting.
Each of the church’s works closely with the places that are holding large stocks of food as well as with the local restaurants that make food available. Pane Fresca send over a large supply of bread each week.
Lunski has the menu worked out by Thursday of each week and uses the meager financial resources she has to fill in with items that have to be purchased. They know where the food bargains are to be found
Lunski was born in Kingston, moved to Montreal until age 10, then moved to Mississauga where she attended Erindale High School
She went to University of Western Ontario for undergrad, York University for Teacher’s college, and then a Master’s degree in education at York that she completed as a part time student while raising young children.
 Making it all come together on time for evening dinner requires checking in with the dozens of volunteers who make the event happen. The career arc for Lunski was to become a principal – that changed when she adopted her last 2 children two girls adopted internationally.
Her first home was in Oakville; 12 years ago she moved to Burlington and joined Wellington Square United Church
As a young child Lunski always had a desire and passion for helping others and doing outreach in her community which included mission trips in Kenya prior to having children and two Mexico mission trips with her boys through her church . Was a part of the outreach committee at Wellington Square, and coordinated our team each month in serving breakfast at Kerr St. Mission in Oakville. Also served occasionally at Wesley Centre in Hamilton.
When asked why she went to Oakville and Hamilton to serve, but wasn’t doing anything in her our own city to help meet needs Lunski began to look within and was given an opportunity to serve whens she was asked to help with a community event that had grown faster than many expected.
 It started out as a small event – 25 people attended the very first dinner – and it grew to involve a wider community. In summer of 2009, a small group of men at Wellington Square were looking to do an outreach initiative in Burlington and tapped into St. Christopher’s where a dinner was being served on Tuesday, but did not offer the meal during the summer. The men filled this spot in the summer by offering a monthly and then bi-monthly, meal alternating between a BBQ and spaghetti dinner to folks in our community.
 Thom and Bob – couple of guys who have known each other since they were 14 – get up at about 2:00 am to do the work their private cleaning business brings in. They learned about th Wellington Square Community Friday from the managers of The Poacher where they spend some of their time. They have been cooking a meal on Friday at Wellington Square for more than five years As the dinner expanded they were looking for someone to help in a number of capacities, and in 2010 Lunski began to coordinate the Friday Night Community Dinner, which changed its name to Friday Night Community, because “we recognized that it is so much more than a dinner, but a community of hope and caring for so many.” Over the last 8 years the dinner grew from an intimate group of 25 to an overflowing 250 friends every Friday.
“When my children were younger I did the role in a volunteer capacity, and two years ago joined the staff of the church and now coordinate the Friday Night Community in a paid capacity.
For many – Friday evening is an opportunity to get out and be with people. Several of the retirement homes in the city bus groups of people who just want to get out and keep in touch with friends
 Community on Friday nights at Wellington Square includes people bussed in from area retirement homes who get a chance to get out and be with their friends. Last Friday – they made it a Valentine celebration. Like the crowd at the Legion who remember their war stories or the seniors that talk about how they are managing their finances and working out transportation plans for a day trip they are planning; it is people coming together to share.
The Rotary types meet to talk about what they will be doing in the months ahead. One of the Rotary Clubs runs the Ribfest event in the city.
 Becki Deware (Burlington Meeting House) with birthday plates. If the volunteers know of a birthday – a special plate of food is made up for them. Rural people will tell you about the quality of life in the country where everyone knows everyone and when there is a problem or something to celebrate they all gather as a community.
That describes Wellington Square on Friday evenings.
It is hard work for Lisa – she has to pull together the food and the fixings for more than 200 people and make sure it all comes together at the right time – and while the volunteers are working in the kitchens she is chatting with people that she likes to see every week.
 Front right: Adele Baker (Shoreacres Bible Chapel), Ginny Swain (Port Nelson United), Nancy Walker (Wellington Square), Jackie Manley (Wellington Square) There is a huge welcome when someone who has not been around for a while walks through the doors.
There is however a bigger picture and some serious questions to be asked. How long can the churches serve as the social hub and a dinner table for several hundred people week after week?
Is this a sustainable model? Is it the most effective way for community to function? Are the costs manageable? Will the volunteers always be there and when do the people who lead these operations get time to pause and think about what they are doing and to refresh themselves?
Are we doing what we are doing the most effective way?
 Volunteers taking a coffee break as they spend the day preparing for the Friday evening community event. No one questions for a second the service that is given – the needs that are being met and the sense of community so many people can tap into is vital to Burlington. The question is – are the churches the only people at the table? Where is the city? Where is the Region?
Is there a better way?
 By Michael J. Hribljan
February 13, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
In my opinion the Halton District School Board (HDSB) projects the appearance of being either incompetent or manipulating the Program Accommodation Review process, let me explain.
First of all, data in the School Information Profiles (SIP) is changing on an ongoing basis. The original SIP was posted on the HBSB web site with a revision date of November 9th, the table below shows the variance in 5 year renewal costs relative to the most recent SIP of January 24th.
What is driving the change in these renewal costs, was this in error/incompetence, or is this being manipulated to determine an outcome?
It’s interesting that Bateman costs have come down after option 23 (Close Bateman) was presented at the PARC.
Also, Central’s costs have gone up by almost 400%!
Most recently, the Program Accomodation Review Committee has been told these numbers are not correct and they will be getting new ones, are we to believe the third time the charm?
 Just what is it going to cost to keep Central high school up to the required standards – and is the board fiddling with the numbers? The SIP also contained the 10 yr historical maintenance costs, Central’s maintenance cost over the last 10 years is one of the lowest. I see this two ways, the school itself is cost effective to maintain given it is the oldest school in Burlington. Or, the HDSB has spent as little as possible at Central (and further planned to as per the Nov 4 SIP) given it had tried to close Central in the past and wanted to ensure its closure in this go around.
Are the future renewal costs realistic? If you add up the renewal costs for the last 10 years for all 7 schools from the SIP, this totals $22M, is the board saying it now is going to quadruple that cost as we need to spend $43M over the next 5 years? Has the maintenance of our schools been inadequate over the last 10 years or, are the new numbers being inflated to drive a predetermined conclusion?
 Option 19 – the Director of Education’s choice is not all that popular with the PARC people on the early count of hat should be kept in and what should be set aside as the 14 people work towards what they want to pass on in the way of their views to the Director. As you observed at the meeting on February 9th, the first presentation by the board was on the operating cost savings associated with closing Central and Pearson. How can the PARC members be asked to remain unbiased and open minded when the board presents this information only for Option 19 and claims it is too much work to do the calculations for the other options?
Has the Board heard of spreadsheets? I could have done the financial analysis for all options in a few hours.
Now for the accuracy of that information, it was obvious to me right away that the board had forgotten to include the cost of the portables for Aldershot which would have significantly reduced the calculated savings.
When asked this question by the PARC, the board representatives danced around the answer eventually saying they would move portables from other schools. The reality is they forgot to include this, Aldershot under Option 19 needs 10 to 12 portables. The portables at Pearson are fixed in place, not to mention 30 to 40 years old, which the board was alluding to, that could be moved to Aldershot. So is the plan to take Central kids out of their building and stick them in 30 year old portables? The reality is the board will need to lease portables at $60,000 – $70,000/year (this cost was sputtered by the HDSB member presenting this information) for 10 portables, or say $700,000 a year!
The board issued an information package to the PARC that contained a summary of course conflicts for all Halton Secondary Schools, with Central shown to be the highest. No support or background, just one page.
The HDSB hired a consultant, IPSCO, to conduct a student survey primarily targeted at programming. At the end of my letter I note the Director’s take away message of “listen to the students”, keep this in mind.
The draft data was briefly presented at the PARC Meeting #1 with no real conclusions, why? Well, if you read each of the questions, the survey was constructed to identify programming issues, and I think the board was hoping to use this information to promote its theory that larger schools are better; and there are significant issues with our smaller schools. If you look at this data closely, and considering it’s the voice of the students, here’s what I’ve observed from this data:
• Central had the highest response rate, suggesting great interest in this process and students whom are engaged.
• The response rate was very similar across all grades, counter to what the Director told the PARC later in the meeting.
• Central scored well below the mean (which is a positive) in response to:
o I moved schools to take a course or program not offered at my home school.
o I moved schools to enroll in a specialty program (e.g. SHSM, OTAP)
• Interestingly, a large school like Hayden showed little difference to the other schools when questioned about class sizes greater than 35 or less than 20 on a percentage basis.
• However looking a little deeper, 1011 students from Hayden responded to the survey representing almost a 1/3 of the respondents, and therefore 200 students from Hayden responded that they had 20 or fewer students in a class, and this has happened 3 or more times to them. According to the board big schools should solve problems like this, no?
• 61 students from Hayden reported that they were unable to make course changes because sections are full, happening 3 or more times. By comparison 18 students had this same situation at Central. On a percentage basis it seems similar, but clearly more students are impacted at larger schools.
• 27 students at Central reported they were unable to make course changes because of course conflicts compared to 40 students at Hayden, 3 or more times. Not to mention that Central was well within the mean on a percentage basis for all Burlington schools.
• 14 students at Central responded that they had class in an alternative class room (e.g. science in a class without a lab or math class in an auto shop) 3 or more times. By comparison, 152 students at Hayden reported this situation occurring 3 or more times, a 10 fold increase! Is this what can be expected if we overcrowd Aldershot?
• 41 Central students responded that Central did not have the variety of courses to satisfy my pathway requirements compared to 71 students at Hayden. Both were similar on a percentage basis and below the overall mean. Is Central satisfying student course needs as good or better than a large school?
• 72% of Central students responded and agreed to the statement that their teachers know something about them (interests, strengths, how I learn best) compared to 56% at Hayden. Hayden was well below the Burlington mean, and the lowest overall. Big school is better?
I could go on, there is much more to be learned from this data, but I think my point is clear.
So, the HDSB hired an outside consultant, spent tax payers money, conducted a survey and put the report aside because it did not generate the results it wanted? But, presented the PARC with unsupported data regarding course conflicts.
I would note that a very relevant student survey focusing on busing, walk-ability, portable class rooms and impact on student life should be conducted. I’m not sure the HDSB wants to hear the voice of the student to these questions.
Let’s talk about the outside consultant hired by the HDSB for this study who was supposed to facilitate the PARC meetings. As a result of feedback from the PARC members and generally poor facilitation skills, the HDSB superintendent is now facilitating the meetings with the outside consultant (being paid by the taxpayers) relegated to a side line position. How was this person/firm hired, what was the RFP (Request for Proposals) process and were references checked by the HDSB prior to retaining his services? Why are we still paying for this?
Next the HDSB issued the Facility Audit Report to upgrade the schools for accessibility to the PARC members.
The HDSB has known about this requirement in our schools for years, and it now decides to retain an architectural firm to prepare estimates. The report has not been reviewed nor checked by the HDSB, and only an executive summary is presented to the PARC. Central is shown to be the most expensive to upgrade at $3M with the other schools around $1.5M. So the obvious conclusions by the PARC members are, “wow, Central is going to be expensive to upgrade”. Did the board hire the right consultant this time?
 PARC members putting their views as to whether or not criteria for closing a school were met or not met. The HDSB could qualify the this information by saying (but it does not):
• These are only estimates and there are is an accuracy range of each of these, and we need to do a thorough review, so take this with a “grain of salt”.
• Keep in mind that Central is “ESTIMATED” to be $1.5M higher than the other schools, this is a small difference, think of it as only 3 years of bussing costs of Central kids if we close Central.
• Some of this work was completed at other schools in the past so the costs are lower now, we need to be fair to all schools.
So, to recap:
• the HDSB presents to the PARC new higher renewal costs for Central;
• shows over inflated annual savings associated with closing Central and Pearson;
• presents unsupported data on course conflicts;
• ignores relevant voice of the student data on programming;
• presents an Audit Report for accessibility showing Central higher than all other schools with no qualification nor without a thorough review.
Options 23 b and c were put up on the meeting room wall but the original option 23 wasn’t – staff said they “forgot” to put it up. Now the HDSB expects the PARC members to act in a fair and unbiased way as it evaluates options that determine the school life of 1600 Burlington students, and coincidentally forgets to put one of the options up on the wall for evaluation, Option 23 Close Bateman.
A number of the PARC members request that more time is needed, perhaps a 5th or 6th PARC meeting given the new and changing data. The HDSB is very reluctant to do this and provides a “let’s see” answer.
Why the rush to determine the lives of students and families in Burlington for the next 20 or 30 years!? The HDSB is under significant pressure for a new high school in Milton and needs additional provincial funding. The housing market is booming, interest rates are low and developers are making handsome profits.
Hayden was built for $34M in 2013 as a result of poor planning by the HDSB, and was not needed based on student enrollment. Interestingly, the distance from Hayden to the South-West side of Milton is 12 km or a 12 minute drive according to Google Maps. By comparison it is 6.1 km between Central and Aldershot and 11 min drive time. So it’s the same travel time by car (likely much longer bus ride due to traffic congestion in Burlington ) to transport Central kids to Aldershot, compared to transporting Milton kids to Hayden. Why is this option not being looked at!?
The board can then use the $35M – $45M saved to upgrade older Burlington high schools that have had the minimum level of maintenance done on them over the last 20 years.
 Director of Education Stuart Miller with a parent at a Central high school meeting. Director Miller likes to explain that when we started this process the HDSB had a small amount of information and through the PAR the board is gathering much more information through this process. That is all fair and good, helps to justify the countless corrections to information, but quite frankly is an extremely flawed approach. Opinions and solutions crystalize in people’s minds at an early stage in the process which are then hard to change with new incremental information. Also, the way in which new information is presented comes in to play with respect to the formation of opinions and solutions. The HDSB should have conducted a year or two of information gathering and vetting before any decision was proposed.
The “icing on the cake” occurred at the end of the meeting when Director Miller invites a student council member to speak to the PARC meeting, which we later learned was a Bateman student. Why not a Pearson or Central student from one of the schools he recommended for closure!?
 Bateman student Oubaida Ikharbine asking the PARC members to “listen” to the students” The committee members asked why a students was being presented to them now when they had been asked not to communicate with students. The rules seemed to be getting changed on the fly. The take away message from the Director in his closing remarks to the PARC is “think about the students, listen to the students”, if I were on the PARC I would quite frankly be insulted. As a parent and former grad, I’ve talk to my son and his friends, and all I can think about the friendships that are going to be broken up by taking the 600 high school kids at Central and sending some to Aldershot and some to Nelson, the extra hour per day they will spend on or waiting for a bus, not to mention the 450 kids at Pearson, the 275 grade 7 and 8 kids at Central, the 250 7/8’s at Aldershot that are being ignored in this process, and the 300 kids at Aldershot that will have to attend school in portables for next 20+ years!
I’ll let you draw your own conclusions, but it’s clear to me how the “dots are being connected”.
 Michael Hribljan has lived in Burlington for 54 years; he graduated from Central High School in 1981 after which he went on to earn a Bachelor and Master’s degree in chemical engineering, leading to “a fantastic position, making a difference”, with a major global technology company. His son Peter currently attends Central where he is one of 40 students on the Central Robotics Team – 2386.
By Staff
February 13th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Lots of competition for what people decide to do on Family Day – Monday the 20th.
A number of the city’s administrative services will be closed
Parks and Recreation Programs and Facilities: Activities and customer service hours at city pools, arenas and community centres will vary over the holiday weekend.
 Holiday service on Family Day for the Handi-van service Burlington Transit and Handi-Van: On Monday, Feb. 20, Burlington Transit will operate a holiday service and the downtown Transit Terminal, Handi-van Dispatch and the administration office will be closed. Regular service resumes Tuesday, Feb. 21.
Roads and Parks Maintenance: The administrative office will be closed on Monday, Feb. 20. Only winter control and emergency services will be provided.
Halton Court Services: Provincial Offences Courts in Milton and Burlington will be closed Monday, Feb. 20.
Parking:
Free parking is available in the downtown core, on the street, municipal lots and the parking garage on weekends and holidays.
The Conservation Authority wants to get you out of the city and into the hinterland north of Dundas.
To embrace the magic of winter, you have to step outside! Beat those winter blahs, and get out to Crawford Lake and Mountsberg Conservation Areas on Family Day Weekend for a couple of fun, family friendly events.
 Snowshoeing – how to do it right. A Family Day offering at Crawford Lake. Crawford Lake wants you to enjoy a flurry of outdoor activities during its Snowflakes and Snowsnakes festival, while Mountsberg invites you to enjoy winter in the country at Tales by a Winter’s Fire.
Crawford Lake’s Snowflakes and Snowsnakes event includes, winter themed crafts and games, a marshmallow roast, and an introduction to snowshoeing (weather permitting). During the snowshoe demonstrations, visitors will learn more about the history of this popular sport, proper snowshoeing techniques and the health benefits of snowshoeing. The winter games sessions will include a round of snowsnake (conditions permitting), a traditional Iroquoian sport that challenges you to see how far you can send a wooden “snake” down a snowy path.
Children will love experimenting with snow and ice during the craft sessions and the Iroquoian Village will also be open for exploration daily. Finally, when it is time to get warm, visitors can settle in around a crackling fire to roast their own marshmallow.
Mountsberg’s Tales by a Winter’s Fire features an opportunity to enjoy winter in the country. You can roast hot dogs and marshmallows and share stories around the warmth and crackle of an outdoor bonfire.
All of this and more can be done at the ‘Tales by a Winter’s Fire’ program. Come and enjoy winter puppet shows, wagon rides, live animal encounters and Raptor Presentations. Please note there is an additional fee for rides and the hotdogs. We invite you to join us at Mountsberg for a memorable winter experience for the whole family.
Entrance to Tales by a Winter’s Fire and Snowflakes and Snowsnakes is covered under the regular park admission fees of: Adults $7.50, Children $5.25, Seniors $6.50, while children 4 years of age and under are free. The daily park admission is good for entrance that day into any of Conservation Halton’s parks.
Certainly lots to do.
By Peter Menet
February 13th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Last Thursday the Program Accommodation Review committee was not presented with a 150 page report on AODA prepared by Snyder Architects. They were given a brief outline of approximately six pages. The full report is to appear on the Board’s website. Let’s wait and see where the devil lies.
The asbestos issue was handled very poorly by Board staff. It is my understanding that since the mid 2000’s all Boards in Ontario have tested for and documented the location of asbestos in their schools. My understanding is that this is a requirement of OHSA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration). It is also my understanding, having previously been employed at unionized facilities where I was tasked with removing asbestos material, that there will be detailed reports of any occurrence where asbestos has been disturbed and reports of the remedial actions taken.
So the location of asbestos in all the schools appears to be known and well documented.
Asbestos is not an AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) issue, it is an OHSA issue. Now we get into the meat of the issue which is friable and non-friable asbestos, but we have to wait to see what the full AODA report says.
It is unfortunate that the Board has presented asbestos as an AODA issue. It is not, it is an OHSA issue.
 Parents from high schools that are at risk of being closed listen intently to what the PAR committee members are saying and what staff is telling them. A considerable amount of work has been done in the province to protect the public from asbestos exposure. Again, we must wait to see the full AODA report to see if the Board’s staff did a disservice to the public by raising fears and a disservice to the PARC committee process.
We have to wait for the full AODA report to be posted on the website to confirm if the architects had been given access to the asbestos documents prepared in the 2000’s and to see how these documents were used to estimate asbestos removal costs.
Asbestos is a hot button and was very poorly handled by Board staff.
By Ray Rivers
February 13th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
If I were Donald Trump I’d have to say that it was the largest crowd ever. There were more people assembled at Nathan Phillips Square than at former US president Obama’s inauguration. And all those white spaces between the people… well that was just snow.
Seriously, there were only a few thousand brave souls who turned out on a bone-chilling February mid-day at Toronto’s city hall this past Saturday. They had assembled to protest Trudeau breaking his promise about how we elect our MPs. And it was a pretty good crowd for such an event given such short notice. Besides, there were as many as twenty of these protests being held across the nation.
 Gazette columnist Ray Rivers publicly protesting the decision Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made to abandon his election promise to never again hold an election where the First Past the Post was the winner. The organizers seemed pleased with the turnout. After all, electoral reform is not top-of-mind for most Canadians. No doubt that was what the Liberals found out recently after polling convinced them that they could safely kill the electoral reform promise. And the whole matter is complicated, filled with unfamiliar terms like first-past-the-post, single transferable vote and mixed-member proportional representation. You won’t find that kind of language every day in the sports section.
The faces in the crowd were mostly young – a generation of first-time voters, once convinced not long ago that Mr. Trudeau was just one of them – that new kind of politician, offering a better political deal for Canadians. Better representation might make politics more relevant to this generation and even the one before, the Gen-Xers, who had largely shunned politics and left voting to their parents.
But there was this proverbial elephant in the midst of the protest. If it was this easy to cancel one promise, what about all the other promises the PM made? Can we have faith that he’ll deliver on any of those other promises now? What about legalizing pot, for example? Or will that be the next domino to fall, because someone in the PM’s office has decided there is no consensus on that issue either?
 Former Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty did try to reform Ontario’s electoral system. But wait, weren’t these the same political staffers who once convinced Dalton McGuinty to reform Ontario’s electoral system a few years ago? Yes, they engineered a process so fair and discrete that when it came time for the referendum, most voters had little idea what they were actually voting for – a process designed to fail. Was that benign neglect? Or were they disingenuous or incompetent?
There were voices in the crowd on Saturday yelling out liar, liar, pants-on-fire. But it seems unlikely this is a case of unbridled mendacity. I mean what rational politician would set out to raise expectations in an election, planning to break his word following the victory party? And why, especially when he knows full well the ultimate consequence – the shedding of all those voters who had delivered him his majority government?
 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:
Electoral Reform – More Electoral Reform – Even More –
 By Staff
February 13th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
On February 12, 2017, 11:00 p.m. the city released the following snow clearing information.
Primary roads have been plowed.
Plowing of Secondary and Residential roads are underway.
Sidewalk plowing and Bus stop clearing are underway.
Road conditions continue to be monitored.
Please make sure that your vehicles are off the road to allow our plows to clear your area properly.
By Pepper Parr
February 10th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
What began as polite meetings that went from 7 pm to 9 pm have become meetings that go beyond 10 pm and have some pretty stiff comments about how the process being used is working out. There are parents from schools that are at risk who aren’t very happy.
With close to 30 different options before the PARC Scott Podrebarac, the PARC chair knew that there was some whittling down to be done – and the Thursday evening meeting was the beginning of that process.
 Fourteen options are put up on the walls of the meeting room – PARC members begin to reveal what they like and what they don’t like. There were 14 different option put up on the walls of the meeting room Thursday evening.
Each PARC member was given three round red stickers that they could place on whichever option they wished.
The PARC members were being asked to decide if the option met or did not meet the “criteria”
 Every question asked by embers of the PARC and the decisions they make has to fit into the Framework. With 14 PARC members having three dots each – there were 42 of the things to be distributed.
Some of the options got nothing. Option # 19 – the one that would close two of the three high schools in the city got the most – however its total was less than the total of the dots given to the other options.
 PARC members were asked to first write down which criteria were met and which were not met and then to indicate which option they supported. Option 7 – to close none of the schools – did well – and option brought forward by the parents at Central high school also did well – but not as well as the option to close Central and Pearson
There are a lot of questions to be asked:
Where does Pearson high school stand in all this and how do the people at Aldershot feel about a bunch of portables being put on their property if Central is closed?
And is Bateman really at risk?
The board has said repeatedly that the decision is not a money decision – it is what is best for the students.
However the cost of getting the high schools up to AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) standards is high. The matter of lead based paint in some of the older schools – and the probability that some of the older schools may have asbestos in them is an AODA issue that is going to add to the cost of getting schools to that standard.
At some point the trustees, who do have a fiduciary responsibility, are going to balk at the suggestion that school board taxes be increased to cover the AODA expenses.
There is a massive 150 + page report on the AODA condition of the schools that was presented to the PARC committees.
Add to the mix – the views of the students which Director of Education Miller though important enough to have him meet with a group of high school students and then bring one of them to the PARC meeting where he asked that the students be listened to.
While the members of the PARC were getting into some serious deliberations the principals from every high school gathered at a table at the far end of the room on standby to answer question – there were none for then at PARC meeting # 3 but there were several significant questions asked at PARC meting number 2 held on February 2nd. .
 Principals or vice principals from each high school sat as advisors. With two people from each high school sitting on the PARC we are beginning to see their interests coming to the surface.
The pair from Aldershot are probably the two best speakers. Ward 2 city Councillor Marianne Meed Ward, who is at the table representing Central high school (she has a son at Central and was chosen by the parent council) worked well with Ian Farwell the oher parent representative. Meed Ward continued her practice of asking a lot of questions.
The pair from Bateman are certainly active in pressing their case. Little is heard from the Pearson high school pair. Even less from the Nelson and M.M. Robinson pair – their schools appear to be safe from any closure plans.
 Parents from high schools were able to listen to the conversation but were not allowed to participate in the deliberations. Several came close to accosting the Director of Education after the meeting. He may want to leave earlier at future meetings. It is a busy process – one that requires more time than originally planned. The board added an additional meting for February 16th – the day after the Central high school parents hold a meeting at the Lion’s club to update their community.
To make the whole process even more interesting – the first phase of census data showed that Milton had a population growth of 30% between 2011 and 2016 – and that is certainly going to call for new schools.
The trustees have their hands full. All four Burlington trustees have been on hand for the meetings – so far none of the other trustees have attended PARC meetings. One of the Burlington trustees explained that there was some concern over the impact their attendance might have on the process – given that all the trustees can do is sit and listen – it was difficult to understand why there is any concern. Burlington has four of the 11 votes that are going to be cast. Six are needed to determine what the decisions are going to decide. Where are the Burlington trustees going to get those two additional votes?
And are the Burlington trustees going to vote as a block.
If one of the choices put before the trustees is to close Bateman – will trustee Collard vote for that choice?
In a follow up article we will drill down into some of the data that got put on the table.
 This is the time table that has been followed. May 17th is decision date. The time line is getting tighter. The PARC report will go to the trustees on March 29th and then a final vote by the trustees on May 17th.
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By Ray Rivers
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
