While we appear to rank as the #1 mid-sized city in Canada as one of the best places to live – we rank just 5th as the city that most values monogamy which is defined as being faithful to your husband/wife and not flirting with people of the opposite sex.
This conclusion came out of the latest large-scale Canadian study that analyzed anonymous user data from 20,000 EliteSingles members to discover the cities in Canada where people most value monogamy Burlington took the #5 spot!
The top 10 cities where you can find monogamous people, as well as the top 10 cities where you can find monogamous men and monogamous women (and Burlington features on all three lists, coming 5th overall, 7th on the men’s list, and 8th on the women’s).
• Overall, the Canadians most enthusiastic about monogamy are from Aurora, ON • Whitehorse, YT and Port Moody, BC take second and third place • Canada’s most monogamous men are from Port Moody, BC • The nation’s most monogamous women can be found in Stratford, ON
The study, which was conducted by premium dating site EliteSingles, used anonymous user data from 20,000 registered members to determine just how much Canadians prioritize monogamy.
The study looked at the extent to which the randomly selected participants agreed with the statement ‘I believe that monogamy is essential in a relationship.’ These scores were then averaged out by area, revealing the Canadian cities where people are the most likely to be mad for monogamy:
The top 10 cities in which to find Canada’s most monogamous people:
1. Aurora, ON 2. Whitehorse, YT 3. Port Moody, BC 4. Spruce Grove, AB 5. Burlington, ON 6. Airdrie, AB 7. Langley, BC 8. Okotoks, AB 9. Maple Ridge, BC 10. Kelowna, BC
Participants in the study were asked to rank the extent to which they agreed with the sentiment ‘I believe that monogamy is essential in a relationship’; placing themselves on a scale of 1 (do not agree at all) to 7 (agree completely). As it turns out, Canadians are strongly in favour of monogamy: the average result for women was 6.3, while men average 5.7.
As well as determining the averages overall, the study looked at answers geographically, determining an average result for each location and thus revealing the ten cities in Canada that are home to the most monogamous people overall, as well as the cities that are home to Canada’s most monogamous men and most monogamous women.
The organization that did the survey is a dating site that manually confirms the existence of every client.
Something just didn’t’ seem right about this one. Perhaps it is because we don’t understand the world of artists but asking a sculptor to send in an Expression of Interest for a possible $140,000 commission within 10 days suggests that the decision has already been made and the request for those Expressions is released to cover the tracks.
The location for this piece of sculpture is nice – part of the RBG Rock Garden.
We pass this on – and wonder if we are misleading the sculptors in the community
Here are the details. We will watch with interest and see who is awarded the commission.
ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDENS | REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
Deadline: Friday, January 20, 2017
Budget: $140,000 CAD (maximum)
The Royal Botanical Gardens invites artists to submit Expressions of Interest to create a permanent Thomas McQuesten commemorative artwork to be installed in the Dalglish Family Courtyard at the Royal Botanical Gardens. This competition is open to professional Canadian artists or artist-led teams.
The call: Artist Opportunity
The Royal Botanical Gardens invites artists to submit Expressions of Interest to create a permanent Thomas McQuesten commemorative artwork to be installed in the Dalglish Family Courtyard at the Royal Botanical Gardens. This competition is open to professional Canadian artists or artist-led teams*.
Dalglish Family Courtyard at the Royal Botanical Gardens.
An artwork proposal is not requested at this time. This is a two-phase process: in Phase One, applicants will be reviewed on the basis of artistic merit of past work, professional qualifications and experience. In Phase Two, short-listed artists will be required to submit an artwork concept proposal and maquette. Artists selected for the short-list will be provided with a full Request for Proposals outlining detailed artwork specifications prior to developing their proposals. Short-listed artists will be paid an artist fee of $1500 to develop their proposals.
* A professional artist is an individual who has specialized skills and/or training in his/her artistic discipline (not necessarily in academic institutions), has a history of public presentation and is critically recognized as an artist.
Artwork Goals
This commission will commemorate Thomas Baker McQuesten, one of our nation’s tireless advocates for conservation and founder of the Royal Botanical Gardens. Set in the Dalglish Family Courtyard, this sculpture will stand as a proud reminder of McQuesten’s legacy and the RBG’s long-standing commitment to the stewardship of our land.
The goals of this project include:
• Celebrate an iconic figure in Canadian history in connection with Canada’s 150th Anniversary of Confederation • Enhance the Dalglish Family Courtyard with an inspiring public artwork • Provide a space for contemplation and commemoration • Tell the story of McQuesten and his contribution to local and national infrastructure, conservation and beautification
Background The Royal Botanical Gardens
For over 80 years Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) has been an ecological jewel at the western tip of Lake Ontario. Conceived and founded through the tireless efforts of early conservationist Thomas Baker McQuesten, RBG lands were set aside to create the region’s first botanical garden. Patterned after Kew Gardens in England, RBG was created to serve as both a regional botanical tourism site and an environmental agency. In his book “Garden with a View”, former Executive Director Dr. Leslie Laking explains RBG’s unique role in society:
Hendrie Gardens RBG
“Royal Botanical Gardens puts nature’s beauty on display, but it isn’t a park system. It teaches but it isn’t a school. It protects and preserves forest and marsh, but it isn’t a conservation authority. It collects and propagates botanical knowledge and plant life, but it is not a library, museum, or laboratory. It is all those things and more than their sum”.
Designated as a national historical site, RBG is revered worldwide for its extensive 400 acres of display gardens. What makes RBG unique is that it also protects and stewards over 2300 acres of environmentally sensitive lands and diverse ecosystems that connect the Niagara escarpment to Lake Ontario. In acknowledgement of this crucial environmental role, Royal Botanical Gardens was granted a provincial mandate in 1941 for the development of four areas of focus: Conservation, Education, Horticulture and Science. In the 70 years that followed, RBG has established a national and international reputation as a living laboratory for science, a connecting point for children in their early embrace of nature, a leader in sustainable gardening and the standard-bearer for ecological restoration and plant preservation.
In the face of devastating environmental threats worldwide, RBG is more relevant now than ever before. Its established and evolving environmental programs provide straightforward, workable solutions designed to maintain sustainable biodiversity in Canada, for the world.
Thomas Baker McQuesten
Thomas McQuesten
Thomas Baker McQuesten (June 30, 1882 – January 13, 1948) was born in Hespeler, Ontario (now Cambridge) and received his primary and secondary school education in Hamilton. Following high school, McQuesten attended the University of Toronto and continued his studies at Osgoode Hall, receiving his law degree in 1907. McQuesten served as an alderman on Hamilton City Council and later, a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario (representing Hamilton- Wentworth).
McQuesten, whose family had deep roots in Hamilton was a key player in infrastructure development across Ontario and is credited with bringing forward the Queen Elizabeth Way, Royal Botanical Gardens and many other projects. McQuesten was a tireless advocate for the development of parks and conservation areas. For instance, his advocacy for parks on Hamilton, Ontario City Council earned him an appointment to the permanent position on the Board of Park Management in 1922, where he remained until his death in 1948. In this position, he supported the construction of the Rock Garden and other landscaped areas on the Burlington Heights (Ontario), which became part of Royal Botanical Gardens in 1932. After his retirement from electoral politics, McQuesten resumed his interest in RBG and became an executive member of that organization, active there until just before he died.
Artwork Location
The artwork will be located in the Dalglish Family Courtyard. The courtyard serves as the entry point to the newly rejuvenated Rock Gardens at the Royal Botanical Gardens. The three-year, $20 million project provided the garden with major upgrades in infrastructure, accessibility and landscape design. This included improvements to the garden’s structural integrity, water and sewage systems, visitor accessibility, and architectural landscape. In addition, a new visitor centre was constructed to serve as a year round destination for business and private functions.
Just outside the visitor centre, the Dalglish Family Courtyard is an elegant space that serves as both a welcoming point for guests making their way outdoors and a venue for social occasions and gatherings. Alpine plants representing true rock garden vegetation grow from the beautiful stone walls, and gentle waterfalls creates a peaceful atmosphere.
The artwork will be sited in the eastern portion of the courtyard is the primary location for the artwork. Artists may propose an artwork in series or ancillary piece that makes use of Site B as a secondary location (optional).
Locations for the sculpture in the Daiglish Family Courtyard.
Artwork Design Parameters
The artwork must adhere to the following design parameters:
• The artwork must be an exterior, sculptural installation. • The artwork should contain elements that are representative of Thomas Baker McQuesten. The artwork could be a formal commemorative sculpture or could contain elements that are more interpretive in nature in combination with figurative elements • The artwork should express the passion and commitment of McQuesten to the natural environment and the Royal Botanical Gardens • Fabricated using high quality, long-lasting materials that are highly resistant to theft, vandalism and weathering • Must not pose a risk to public safety (i.e. no sharp points, does not allow climbing to restricted areas, no slip hazards, etc.) • Does not incorporate light, video or sound elements • Artwork does not restrict visitor’s movement within the courtyard or compromise accessibility standards • Meets all Ontario building code standards (https://www.mah.gov.on.ca/Page7393.aspx); • The selected artist will be required to submit drawings certified by a structural engineer licensed to operate in Ontario
Budget
The budget for this project is $140,000 CAD (maximum, exclusive of HST). This is the total amount available for all related expenses of this public art project including (but not limited to): artist fees, materials, site preparation, technical consultation, fabrication, installation, any required above or below-grade foundations, insurance, equipment, permit fees, and travel.
RBG grounds staff will be available to assist in site preparations, general labour and have a significant skillset and available equipment that may be used during installation. To ensure the budget is being maximized an installation consultation will occur with each short-listed artist.
When the flowers and plants are in bloom the RBG is one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
Eligibility
This competition is open to all professional Canadian artists. Artist collectives and/or artist-led teams are also encouraged to apply. The selected artist must be able to travel to Burlington, Ont. for a minimum of two visits: one technical consultation meeting and one visit to manage the installation of the artwork and to engage in public dialogue (i.e. artist talk / public unveiling event).
The selection panel is comprised of the following representatives:
Camilla Dalglish, major gift donor
John Best, author, Thomas Baker McQuesten: Public Works, Politics, and Imagination
Tobi Bruce, Director, Collection & Exhibitions / Senior Curator, Art Gallery of Hamilton
Jeremy Freiburger, Executive Director, Cobalt Connects
Andrew Hunter, Fredrik S. Eaton Curator, Canadian Art, Art Gallery of Ontario
Mark Runciman, CEO, Royal Botanical Gardens
Maryella Leggat, resident & RBG supporter.
Estimated Project Timeline (2016-17)
December 2016 Expression of Interest document released
January 20, 2017 Deadline for Stage One: Expression of Interest
By January 31, 2017 Selection committee applications, selects short-listed artists
March 17, 2017 Short listed artists’ Concept Proposals due
By March 31, 2017 Steering committee reviews proposals and selects winning artist Selected artist enters into a contract with the Royal Botanical Gardens
September / October 2017 Artwork is installed
What’s the rush? If they are going to commemorate McQuesten -do it right.
There is always a certain amount of rivalry – call it give and take – between Burlington and Hamilton. The relationship has changed from one where Burlington was basically a bedroom community attached to Hamilton to what is now more of a partnership between the two cities. The Bay Area Economic Summit was a very good example of what the two cities can achieve when they work together.
Burlington city manager James Ridge’s meeting with Hamilton bureaucrats over getting the LaSalle Park water lots into the hands of Burlington might fracture that relationship a little. We are likely to get outsmarted by Hamilton on that transaction. But I digress
With the federal government telling us how they are going to spend our tax dollars as we celebrate our 150th anniversary as a country – that’s what a Sesquicentennial is – all kinds of ideas are popping out of nowhere.
One of the federal ideas is to have a couple of chaps travelling across the country with a red leather chesterfield on which they are inviting people to sit on with them and tell stories about Canada. That one is almost as wacky as some of the Canada Council grants we hear about.
There is one grant application that doesn’t appear to involve very much in the way of tax dollars but might appeal to Burlington’s pride – even though the object of all the attention is located in Hamilton.
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.
And that is the Tribal Class destroyer HMCS Haida that is tied up in Hamilton in a place that is not that easy to find. But the good ship Haida is there.
There is a petition sponsored by Project Naval Distinction that they would like you to sign to have the ship named as the “flagship” of the fleet.
This is our opportunity to recognize a Canadian icon of excellence, the last of its kind in the world.
The ‘fightingest ship’ Canada has ever produced, Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) HAIDA served during the Second World War, the Korean War and the Cold War, sinking more enemy tonnage than any other ship in Canadian history.
When you get to the web site just enter E560 for the petition you want to sign and they will take you through the process.
The sponsors of the petition want to see Haida given due recognition during the Canada150 celebrations.
Go to
petitions.parl.gc.ca
While not known as a naval city – Burlington has always had a strong naval pride. A portion of the monument on the Naval Promenade at Spencer Smith Park.
before February 22nd, 2017 and add your signature to petition E-560 to honour the incredible accomplishments of HMCS HAIDA. This is a simple and symbolic way that you, and those you share this petition with, can make the Canada150 celebrations even better.
This is one of the better Canada 150 projects – all they are asking for is your signature.
It wasn’t the best way to end the year but it was what it was.
After more than a year of talking about letting to public see how council members vote at city council meetings some technology was finally acquired and the public was about to see how it worked.
It didn’t – even though staff and city council had been prepped on which buttons to push to record their vote.
At one point the Mayor asked why some of the council members had not logged in to record their votes.
The system puts the issue to be voted up on the screen for the public to see – appreciate that these council meetings are broadcast live via Cogeco TV.
The issue being voted on appears on the large screen and on the iPads the council members use to cast their vote.
After a couple of embarrassing silences the Mayor declared that the vote, which was just to approve the minutes of the previous council meeting, was passed unanimously – they decided to give up on the technology for the evening and move on.
The Mayors iPad screen lets him know when all the council members have voted. He then enters a command and the results of the vote appear on the screen. Quite why there were nine possible votes was never explained – they just gave up on the technology.
Not one of their more glorious moments.
This stuff is not rocket science – it just makes them look a little on the dumb side.
City Manager James Ridge brings a Canadian Army background to his job; more drill needed Captain.
The technology dysfunction isn’t limited to the electronic voting.
During a Standing Committee meeting earlier in the month when there were 11 delegations on one matter – the clickers that allow a delegation to move through a presentation just would not work.
Ken White did his best to make the clicker he was given by the clerk – it just wouldn’t work for him – nor for anyone else who wanted to present some interactive video.
Time and again a delegator would throw their hands up in frustration when the device they were given to use would not perform.
If this were a private company making a presentation to a potential client they would all be fired – and would probably not earn the business they were after either.
These are not difficult problems to resolve – fix them and stop embarrassing everyone.
The production values of the web casts leave a lot to be desired. In a word they are lousy. The images are not crystal clear – put better cameras in place.
We look like buffoons from some hick town where internet access is still via dial up modem
It’s back to school for everyone on Monday – the students show up sometime before 9 am and parents arrive before 8 pm to enjoy a premiere showing of the new CBC drama Pure on Monday, January 9th in the school auditorium.
Doors open for a meet and greet with the cast and crew at 8 pm and the screening will start at 9pm sharp.
Please join the members of the cast and crew to celebrate this captivating new Canadian television series.
The first of six part CBC mini series will be premiered at Central high school Monday night.
This event is free of charge but the school will be collecting non-perishable items for the food bank as well as donations to the Burlington Central breakfast program. This event is open to the whole community.
Central high school is one of two that were recommended to be closed as part of a reduction in the number of classroom seats in the Burlington high schools.
The community has rallied and is in the process of showing the public that the school is more than a collection of classrooms.
Burlington has always choked when it comes to matters that go to the Ontario Municipal Board.
And yet when the Nelson Quarry took the application for an extension of the quarry on Mt Nemo PERL (Protecting Escarpment Rural Land) fought that battle and managed to win.
It took $2 million out of the legal department’s budget to pay for the year long tribunal that decided the Jefferson Salamander was important and that an expansion of the existing quarry should not be permitted. It was rural Burlington residents who were the force behind that battle – they opposed an expansion – shown as the lower part outlined.
The cost to the city was $2.1 million.
Is Burlington’s problem with the way the planners make decisions and write their reports? Or is the problem with the legal department who don’t effectively read the lay of the land?
Whichever, and it might be something altogether different, there is a problem.
The city now faces a local developer, the ADI development Group, on two development proposals – the Nautique that they want to build at the intersection of Martha and Lakeshore Road and the two 19 storey apartment buildings with a collection of townhouse they want to build at the edge of the Alton Community just south of the 407 at Appleby Line.
There is an interesting emergence of events that is worth watching.
The Burlington Planners recommended approving the Alton development after a lot of negotiating and the involvement of a deelopment designer in the process. Anne McIlroy’s group has done some solid work for Burlington in the past, quite why she didn’t say this is the wrong place for this project is difficult to understand. One gets the sense that the planners and the design consultant went into the review exercise committed to make it work – when the community was adamant that is just didn’t work.
Two towers 19 storeys high – in a community made of up two storey homes – being proposed in the name of intensification. Residents didn’t buy it and convinced council to reject a staff recommendation.
The Planning department, after considerable negotiation with the developer recommended that city council approve the requested changes to the Official plan and changes to the zoning that had applied to the property.
The result would be a property that was zoned for a possible ten storey height being increased to 19 storeys – and there would be two of them.
Tammy , planner leading the xxx
The community was incensed.
City council did, in their wisdom, vote against the staff recommendation.
Before the ink was dry on the city council decision the Adi Development Group had an application in to the OMB asking for a ruling – they were cheeky enough to ask for an expedited ruling.
When they took their Nautique project to the OMB they argued that the city had not made a decision on the development application within the required 180 days. When that application did get in front of the OMB, Adi, the developer asked for a delay while the city considered what to do with the abutting piece of property Adi had bought which made it a considerably different application.
Adi then asked for a mediation by the OMB. Are you getting the picture?
With this going on in Burlington, the province is doing a review of the way the Ontario Municipal Board operates. Burlington along with many municipalities that want to see some reform made in what the OMB can and cannot do.
The province is holding a consultation on Ontario Municipal Board Reform that has five key themes.
• Theme 1: OMB’s jurisdiction and powers • Theme 2: Citizen participation and local perspective • Theme 3: Clear and predictable decision making • Theme 4: Modern procedures and faster decisions • Theme 5: Alternative dispute resolution and fewer hearings
The review process details and background can be found here: at:
The Regional government wrote a Joint submission on behalf of City of Burlington, Town of Oakville, Halton Hills, Milton, Conservation Halton, Grand River Conservation Authority, and Credit Valley Conservation that identified three key recommendations, as outlined below:
1. Scoping appeals
Amend the Planning Act to restrict the scope of matters that can be appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board (e.g. municipally-initiated comprehensive and area wide official plan amendments)
Amend the Planning Act and OMB procedures to effectively scope matters under dispute to restrict appeals that are broad and without basis (e.g. require appeal letters to provide a sound planning rationale for the appeal and include specific policy wording and mapping for those changes being requested).
Restrict appeals (especially third party appeals) that implement municipal comprehensive reviews establishing urban structure.
2. Mediation
Amend the Planning Act and OMB procedures to utilize Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) as a ‘first’ solution to resolve land use disputes rather than OMB hearings.
Service delivery of mediation – improving timelines to expedite resolutions.
Apply a merit based approach to appeals.
3. De Novo Hearings
As a decision making authority, the OMB currently has the ability to hear land use planning matters “de novo” (i.e. from the beginning) even though the matter was previously considered by a municipal council.
Amend the Planning Act to limit the opportunities for de novo hearings at the OMB and give validity to Council’s decisions on land use matters.
The Halton staff report contained a detailed response to the OMB Review Public Consultation. That document was approved November 9, 2016 and is commonly referred to as the “Halton Joint Submission” signed by Region of Halton, City of Burlington, Town of Oakville, Halton Hills, Milton, Conservation Halton, Grand River Conservation Authority, and Credit Valley Conservation.
Burlington added comment of their own to the Halton joint submission in which they said:
City staff concur with the recommendations of Halton report LPS118-16. Staff have also identified the following additional items for the Province’s consideration:
1. The current time frame before an official plan or rezoning amendment can be appealed to the OMB based on “Non-Decision” is inadequate; extension of the time frame should be extended to 12 months for OPAs and 9 months for rezonings.
Currently, an applicant can appeal a development application to the OMB if Council has not made a decision within 180 days of an Official Plan amendment application or 120 days of a Zoning By-law amendment application being deemed complete.
This was the justification the Adi Development Group used when they appealed to the OMB on the Nautique development at Martha and Lakeshore.
While it is acknowledged that Bill 73 has provided the option of extending the timeline by 90 days for OPA’s, the City remains of the position that this is not an adequate extension.
Burlington is a municipality that is accommodating the majority of its growth within the built-up area of the city. The applications being received within intensification areas are increasingly complex, requiring significant public and stakeholder engagement, as well as supporting technical studies. The current 180 day and 120 day time periods are inadequate for processing development applications in this context.
Further, the current time frames do not consider the realities of internal report review processes or Committee/Council meeting cycles typical in municipal government.
To place a report on an agenda for Committee/Council consideration typically means that the report is complete up to 1.5-2 months previous to that date. This shortens the period of “Non-Decision” even further to a 4-5 month processing window, placing the municipality in an even more unrealistic position for processing complex applications.
The existing 180-day and 120-day time frames have a number of impacts:
• It puts more applications before the OMB, when the ultimate goal should be to keep applications within the local decision making authority where best efforts are being made to resolve issues outside of the OMB system.
• It penalizes a municipality for striving to conduct a meaningful public consultation process.
• It penalizes a municipality for striving to ensure that quality technical submissions are received to appropriately assess an application.
• It places the municipality in the position of recommending a refusal to Council, taking an adversarial position with the applicant, when in fact, there could still be the opportunity and interest in working through the issues with the applicant, stakeholders and community.
• It places the municipality in a position of risk and uncertainty for making best effort to continue work through issues beyond the 180-days/120 days with increased risk of appeal for every day that passes.
• It does not recognize that it might be advantageous for some applicants to only fulfill the requirements for a complete application, with the intention of triggering an appeal so that a decision would be made through an OMB hearing rather than by a local Council.
• It places a municipality in an unrealistic position for processing a complex development application as it does not consider the time it takes to: resolve issues with the application; fill information gaps in technical studies; consult with the public; and consult with stakeholders and agencies some of which have their own challenges in resourcing application review and preparation of comments.
2. Alternative dispute resolution should be supported by additional provincial funding, and not downloaded to municipalities.
The City is supportive of avenues that reduce the need for an OMB hearing and that places more decision making authority within the local context, and is therefore supportive of the alternative dispute resolution process. However, the dispute resolution process also requires resourcing which should be supported by the Province and not downloaded to municipalities.
3. The period in which to conduct an interim-control study should be an automatic 2-year period, rather than a 1-year period and subject to renewal.
A municipality typically only invokes an interim-control by-law planning tool when a significant matter arises. A significant matter, is often a complex matter, requiring time to conduct a study.
Components of a study process include: issue identification and project scoping; potentially outsourced procurement for technical assistance; public and stakeholder consultation; research and analysis; policy analysis; formulation of recommendations; and, preparation of a staff recommendation report to Council. A one year-time frame can be aggressive, particularly if outsourced consulting support is required as part of the study due to timelines and requirements of the procurement process. The study period should be revised to an automatic 2- year period, rather than a 1-year period, subject to renewal.
4. The scoping of matters that can be subject to OMB appeal should be further expanded and clarified.
To avoid the necessity of re-hearing of local Official Plan matters which have already been resolved by the Province or the Board at the Senior Plan level, the Province should specify that the following matters are not eligible for appeal:
• Regional official plan conformity through local official plan amendments;
• Any local official plan or amendment which is designed as a conformity exercise to an approved provincial plan (except for those provisions of the local plan that may be more restrictive than the senior-level plan).
5. Further clarity should be provided on the Province’s proposal to restrict appeals of planning applications for development that supports provincially funded transit infrastructure such as subways and bus stations.
Staff support, in principle, the restriction of appeals for applications that support transit infrastructure; however, staff question how such appeal restrictions would be implemented. There are many aspects of local official plans, such as the City of Burlington’s current Official Plan, which support transit infrastructure, and many of these aspects will be continued in expanded in future planning, such as the new impending Official Plan and the Mobility Hub Area-Specific Planning which is currently underway. Staff question how to feasibility separate out those aspects of a Plan which are transit-related, and therefore not subject to appeal, from other overlapping aspects of a Plan which are designed to achieve other objectives, and which would be subject to appeal.
6. The Province’s proposal to require land use decisions to reflect current Provincial policy is strongly supported.
Since 2007, the Planning Act has required that land use decisions on applications made after that time must reflect provincial policies in place when the decision is made, not when the application is made. The Province is proposing to extend this change by requiring that all planning decisions, including those for applications made prior to 2007, be based on planning documents in effect at the time of the decision.
Staff strongly support this Provincial proposal. At the present time, there are some dormant pre-2007 applications in the City that were originally submitted in anticipation of new future planning policies coming into force. These applications were essentially submitted as “placeholders” in order to ensure that the previous planning regime would continue to apply, and these applications could be re-activated at any time. Some of these applications are incomplete and do not reflect current planning policies and practices. This proposed Provincial change would ensure that decisions on these applications, if and when they are re-activated, would be able to reflect the current policies.
There will be changes made to the way the OMB works in the future but it is going to take some time for the process to actually see a change.
Will any of this impact the two matters that has the city and the Adi Development group battling it out before the OMB. Hard to tell.
There is one small tidbit of information that makes this really interesting. The Ontario Municipal Board is part of the Environment and Land Tribunals Ontario which is now led by Bruce Krushelnicki who was at one time the planner for Burlington.
Bruce Krushelnicki – former Burlington Director of Planning is now the Chair of the Environment and Land Tribunals Ontario that oversees the work done by the Ontario Municipal Board.
The city wasn’t happy with the way Bruce Krushelnicki was doing the job and after ten years with Burlington he moved on.
He now chairs the Environment and Land Tribunals Ontario (ELTO) which oversees what gets done by the Assessment Review Board, the Board of Negotiation, the Conservation Review Board, the Environmental Review Tribunal, and the Ontario Municipal Board.
Burlington lost a fine planner but that is proving to be the province’s gain.
Krushelnicki wrote the textbook on OMB procedures. He will direct the process that reforms the OMB – it will just take some time – but it will get done – properly.
Is there really an opportunity for you to cruise through the aisles of a shopping mall near you and spend hours looking at things but not having to spend as much as a dime – and get paid for just walking around?
There may be jobs like that out there but the email shown below isn’t going to get you one of those jobs.
This isn’t a job opportunity – it is an opportunity for these people to learn all thy can about YOU so they can take much of what you own.
There is no address for the company and there is no way for you to communicate directly with them.
They want you to click on that email and send them some basic information about yourself. Once you do that they will begin grooming you; collecting bits and pieces of information about you and your finances and if they determine that you have anything worth stealing – they will bleed you dry.
Remember, if it looks too good to be true – it probably isn’t true.
Don’t let you greed and you gullibility get the best of you.
It’s one of those old one-room school houses that so many of our grand-parents went to. They had pot belly stoves and an outhouse back behind the building.
Built in the 1870’s the school was closed in 1952.
The Lowville school house – Built in the 1870’s the school was closed in 1952.
Few of them survived but the one in Lowville is still standing, structurally in pretty good shape actually but sort of languishing as a venue. It doesn’t get used all that often.
That appears to be changing.
The Lowville Festival has used the building for each of its events the past two years and plans on using it again this year.
ThinkSpot, a small consulting form that located in Lowville a number of years ago, works at “shifting the way people think and the way they work together. They connect all the various intricate pieces of the puzzle – the people, the process, and the place and create a place where people collaborate, think creatively, and find solutions to complex problems.
Debra Pickfield, the ThinkSpot principle, entered into a lease with the city that allows her to use the space when her own premises are not large enough to handle the size of the group she is working with.
And from there it sort of grew.
Gillian Anderson – known to most as “Scully” – the female lead in the X files. Her film performance as Lily Bart in the film House of Mirth was a surprise to many. That film will be the premiere of the Lowville School House film series.
This winter there is going to be a small Lowville Schoolhouse film series – seating is limited to 40 people. That series of events starts in early February.
Robbie Burns
More immediate is the salute to poetry on the occasion of Robbie Burns’ birthday featuring Canada’s finest spoken word poet, Robert Priest. That event takes place Saturday January 21st. Nothing yet on whether or not there will be a piper and if the haggis will be shared.
The Lowville Festival people are now pretty sure they have an event they can grow and are looking at some long term plans that will see the Lowville Park location used more.
These two events, the film series and the poetry reading are events that came out of the minds of the people in the community – they usually know what works best.
Money can’t buy me love. Well at least that’s what Paul McCartney told us. And money couldn’t win Hillary Clinton the US presidency either, even though she spent almost twice as much as her opponent. In fact that flamboyant and wealthy Trump guy also won the Republican nomination despite spending less than any of the other candidates. So maybe he is as good a money manager as he says – or maybe it just takes more than money to win.
Phone banks cost money – do they get the voteout?
Still, running a campaign isn’t free – advertising, phone banks, brochures, and all that jazz. In the 2015 federal election Justin Trudeau and Stephen Harper burned close to a hundred million between them with Justin just topping out Stephen. But it was how the money was spent that took Trudeau to a majority win, according to his staff. And chances are he might have won with even less money.
Of course one never knows these things for sure – so the party people, all parties, keep on sending appeals to the faithful in hopes that the cash keeps rolling in. It’s almost as if raising money has become a fixation, a goal in itself, filling some hypothetical war chest fitted with neither bottom nor lid. Yet, as Trump has shown, one doesn’t need all that money to win a campaign.
Advertising takes up a lot of the campaign money, yet the truth is that fewer people today listen to or watch the expensive commercials on the networks, with the possible exception of live sports broadcasts. More folks are now using their PVR to zip past the commercials, or are switching to Net Flicks, Crave, Prime or public broadcasting to get their programming and avoid those annoying ads. For example, I could have missed all the political ads, had I not been covering this topic.
Tweeting has taken over the way people communicate.
And more folks are getting their news on-line or via Twitter and other social media, rather than the traditional newspapers and networks, where the worst they have to encounter are those annoying but less costly pop-up ads. Even radio listeners can now go to ad-free Sirius or other programming and avoid the attack ads and all that other garbage on the AM/FM stations.
This transformation does place more onus on the reader/watcher/listener to discriminate between fake and real news – but that is another issue. The point is that it shouldn’t cost as much to run a successful election campaign as it once did. And that means the spending limits for the political parties should be falling not increasing. Logically, if the spending starts coming down so will the need for all that money that gets raised.
Politics is largely funded by the government – and that means the tax payer. Half of the costs of all the election campaigns are eligible for subsidy. All eligible donations are tax deductible, starting at 75%, whether raised from spaghetti suppers, rubber chicken dinners or straight cash contributions. And the greater one’s income obviously the more valuable the deduction to him/her making it a regressive tax measure,
Money does not grow on trees.
In the early ‘90s Jean Chretien reduced the influence of money in politics by banning corporate and union contributions and slashing the amount which individuals could donate. With these savings, from reduced tax credits, he established a program to fund political parties on the basis of their popularity at the previous election – the per-vote subsidy. After all, a subsidy is a subsidy from a public accounts perspective. But this measure removed potential influence peddling and corruption from a public accountability perspective.
The federal Conservatives typically raise more money through donations than the other parties. So whether it was a strictly political maneuver or he was driven by ideology, Mr. Harper reversed the course Chretien had set by increasing both eligible contributions and election spending limits, and then he axed the per-vote subsidy. And so it is little wonder enthusiastic fundraisers in the political parties started playing the so-called ‘pay-to-play’ or ‘cash-for-access’ fundraising game.
And it is particularly shameful when it is the party in power selling access to senior ministers. Seriously, why would any business person cough up $1000 or more for a few minutes with a government minister unless they expected something tangible in return? There is no question that cash-for-access flies in the face of the electoral financing reforms that Mr. Chretien had enacted, and should be banned or outlawed.
It is the under the table funding that sets in the rot that destroys much of the political process.
Today there is a growing sentiment among Mr. Trudeau’s members and those of the third parties to re-instate the per-vote subsidy. Of course financing that subsidy would be more revenue neutral were the government to once again reduce individual contribution limits, perhaps even lower than before Harper had elevated them. And another upside would be that members of Parliament could use their time to attend to matters more in the public interest than raising money for the next election?
Finally if we care about our federal deficit, since half of the election expenses get subsidized, it is hard to justify current high election spending limits. This is especially true in light of the hard lesson Mr. Trump has just taught us. Victory is not only a matter of how much gets spent on a campaign. Sometimes ideas are more important than money.
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
The gathering of the data from 256 parents who were responding to the 25 questions posed by Kirk Perris of Ipsos, the company hired by the Board of Education to facilitate the public meetings and the meetings of the PARC (Program accommodation Review Committee) was not a particularly friendly event.
HDSB Director of Education Stuart Miller
The parents were expecting a dialogue – with questions asked and answers given. The Board Director of Education chose not to stay for the meeting – he was at the Gary Allan high school greeting people but said he left before the meeting got underway on the advice of staff.
Stuart Miller is not the kind of man to avoid an issue – the public would have been better served if Miller had chosen to follow his own instincts.
The data gathered came from: 58.6% of the responders were from Central high school; 16.8% from Pearson and 16.8% from Hayden; 2.7% from Aldershot ; 2.3% from Nelson; 2% from Bateman and .8% from Robinson.
They were clearly skewed to how parents from Central high school felt.
Questions 1 to 8 were covered in the first part of this three part series.
Question 9: How concerned are you that your child(ren) has access to appropriate learning facilities (ie kitchens, science labs gyms, libraries)? Very, 63.7%; somewhat 22.4%; not very 6.6%; not at all 7.3%
Question 10:How concerned are you that some high schools have large amounts of specialized learning spaces that remain underutilized? Very 7%; somewhat 21.7%; not very 35.7%; Not at all 35.7%
Question 11:How important is it for your home school to have a full range of extra-curricular activities? (e.g. drama, arts, athletics, clubs) for your child(ren).
Very 46.4%; somewhat 35.2%; not very 13.4%; not at all 5%
Question 12: How likely are you to support your child(ren) participating in extracurricular activities at another school? Very 27.9%; somewhat 26.7; not very 19%not at all 26.4%
Question 13: How important is it for your child to have access to the highest level of competition in athletics? Very 7.3%; somewhat 11.5%; not very 26.9%; not at all54.2%
Given the number of people who responded to the question and the fact that more than 50% were from Central this question and the answers given should not be seen as the view for all the high schools. Nelson and Hayden parents would respond quite differently – which suggests there could perhaps be a couple of high schools that would have sports team with other high schools offering a different academic environment.
Central high students outside the provincial legislature.
Does an arts high school, a science focused high school make sense? Is there going to be an opportunity for parent’s city wide have a fulsome discussion about this?
There are all kinds of questions that come to the surface as the data captured is analyzed. Serious question but the schedule set out doesn’t all all that much time for pauses and opportunities for the parents to gather and discuss amongst them selves with their trustees in the room in a less than formal format what they as a community wants. The existing schedule might not really be serving the public interest.
The parents may need some time to be educated on just what is possible and what doesn’t work from an educational point of view.
Question 14: How important is the physical condition of your existing school to you (e.g. environmental sustainability, energy consumption, safety)? Very 31.4%; somewhat 15.5%; not very 13.4%; not at all 39.7%
Question 15: How important is it that the board ensures that schools have an up to date fully accessible learning environment, e.g. elevators, air-conditioning? Very 23.1%; somewhat 15.7%; not very 13.2%; not at all 47.9%
Central high school – the oldest of the seven schools with a rich local history and a community deeply committed to keeping it open,
Do the answers to this question reveal the different realities different high schools face? At Central the students use classroom on the third floor where there is acceptable heat in the really cold weather. Are Occupational Health and Safety Policies going to require elevators or escalators in high schools? And can older high schools be upgraded at an acceptable cost?
Question 16:How important is it to you to preserve existing community partnerships at your child(rens) current school? (e.g. swimming pool. Library, community centre). Very 38.6%; somewhat 14.3%; not very 19.5%; not at all 27.5%
Question 17: How important is it to you to minimize the use of portable classrooms? Very 63.1%; somewhat 10.7%; not very 10.7%; not at all 15.5%
Did anyone expect much in the way of a different response to this question?
Questions 18 to 25 will be covered in the third part of this series.
Everyone likes nature – to be out for a walk in a forested area and suddenly see a young doe standing very still watching you. There is both an intimacy and a magic to it all.
Watching traffic stop while a flock of geese cross the road taking their sweet time aggravates for a moment until you begin to appreciate that we share this planet.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology sent out the following short video.
It will change the way you see the day – less than a minute to view – well worth the time.
How To Write Kick-Ass, Profit Pulling Adverts For Your Business
Doesn’t that just grab you by the eyeballs and make you stop dead in your tracks? I mean it’s a little harsh – grammatically speaking – but holy smokes, it does it have ‘stopping power’…
Diving right in – Photo byFiona Brophy
Now I’ll share with you a few secrets for creating good adverts. So let’s dive right in because we’re all busy people 😉
First you need to be introduced to AIDA.
– A stands for ATTENTION, as in get some or you lose your chance
– I stands for INTEREST, as in now keep me interested.
– D stands for DESIRE, as in ok, make me want what you’ve got.
– A stands for ACTION, because people need to take action for something to happen.
Got it? That’s all there is to it…Easy right?
If it were that easy we’d all be rich and you wouldn’t need marketing consultants like me. Truthfully, just invest a few thousand hours studying, read all the classic books on advertising that date as far back as 1920 (when advertising really became a science) and you’ll have the subject down cold.
On the off-chance you don’t have that much free time, I’ll give you some wickedly powerful pointers that will let you leapfrog over the other guys. So let’s begin…
Headlines R Us (or is that You?)
It all starts with a headline. You know, the first thing the prospect sees. The title at the top of the page, that’s the headline. The first few words they hear on the radio, that’s a ‘headline’ too. Take this article for example, the headline was the first thing you saw. A good headline can almost stand alone and you just ‘get it’. It’s an advert for the advert.
Studies have shown the headline results in approximately 80% of the results. So the headline makes all the difference. In one test a changed headline improved response over 2000% (over 21 times!)
Here’s an example of a really bad headline… YOUR COMPANY NAME
Your company name is not a headline.
That’s right, your company name is not a good headline. In fact your name, your contact details, how long you’ve been in business and all those other boring bits of data you often put at the top of adverts, is a waste of time…and money UNTIL the prospect wants to know who you are – only then are they important.
Next…Make Them An Offer They Can’t Refuse
Then you have to make a good offer. Don’t beat around the bush. People are busy, your headline stopped them, now they’re looking – so make your pitch. Give them the best you’ve got. Make them an offer they can’t refuse…
Describe the benefits of having your product or service in a way that the prospect can experience. Don’t focus on the specific features – focus on benefits. People buy benefits. Here’s an example:
[Feature] 1/4 Inch Masonry Drill Bit.
[Benefit] 1/4 Inch hole… Probably to hang a picture – so the real benefit was admiring the picture or proving to your spouse that you really are handy around the home…
Finally…Action!
And once you’ve helped them see themselves experiencing your product or service tell them what you want them to do – call, click or visit today. Or words to that effect. Remember, advertising that does anything other than sell is a waste of money for most of us – brand advertising is expensive.
This a headline – outrageous and direct. You probably read it twice and you might even mention it to someone.
Because headlines are so critical to the success of your adverts I wanted to sign-off with this formula for a good headline: SINC (Self Interest, Curiosity & News).
If you can make the headline show the reader what’s in it for them, make them curious to read more, and share something newsworthy you’ve likely got a winner on your hands.
Remember, the money is ALWAYS in the headline.
James Burchill is the founder of Social Fusion Network – an organization that helps local business connect and network. He also writes about digital marketing, entrepreneurship and technology and when he’s not consulting, he teaches people to start their own ‘side hustle.’
The Mayor hasn’t seen anything like it in his ten years in office and the developer is shocked.
The two are now trading strong words. A Burlington developer is telling it as he sees it – the city is playing “pay-back time” against the Adi Development Group when they rejected a staff supported decision to allow the creation of a development in the Alton community that would include two 19 storey apartment buildings in a community where two storey homes are the norm.
A graphic of the [proposed Adi development proposed for Alton. The graphic came from the web site of Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward – no friend of the Adi’s.
A Planning department report approved a 612-unit housing project for the Alton community last month. City council voted against the project and the developer now claims that this vote was a pay back for Adi taking the city to the OMB on another project.
Tariq Adi, CEO if the Adi Development group is reported to have said: “Oh yeah, absolutely. “Look, I’m not going to sugar-coat it, I know what’s going on here.”
Them’s fighting words.
City Council voted against the project located just north of Dundas Street in north Burlington.
Burlington’s planning staff had negotiated with the developer and thought they had a deal. Feelings are now hurt.
City planners recommended acceptance of the project after months of negotiations with the developer to modify the original proposal. The ward Councillor, Blair Lancaster, told the residents she would not support the development.
Residents of the Alton community, turned out in large numbers for a meeting in December and expressed their anger about the existing congestion in their neighbourhood, traffic issues and overcrowded schools.
Adi has now taken the city’s rejection of their Alton project to the Ontario Municipal Board.
Adi has a proposal for a 26 storey unit at the intersection of Martha and Lakeshore Road that is also now before the Ontario Municipal Board. It is currently in an OMB guided mediation that took place December 15th and 16th. The outcome of that mediation is not yet known.
The Adi brohers, Tariq on the right, Saud on the left. It was Tariq who was shocked into taking their development to the OMB.
Tariq Adi is also reported to have said: “Yes, what happened at Martha absolutely has something to do with this. That’s fine, that’s part of doing business. We’ll just deal with it.”
The Mayor is reported to have denied that the votes against Adi are politically motivated and said the vote was based on the delegations made to city council.
Burlington is in the process of writing a new Official Plan. The decision to write a new plan rather than concentrate on revising the existing plan was to have it reflect the 25 year Strategic Plan that was approved last year.
The Planning department is also working up the rules and regulations that will apply to proposed mobility hubs at the downtown transit terminal, at the Appleby and Aldershot GO stations as well as at the Burlington GO station where the Molinaro Paradigm development, currently well underway with sales exceeding the original projection.
The Adi Development Group is relatively new to Burlington. They have a number of projects in different stages of development.
A view of the Adi development on Guelph Line just south of Upper Middle Road is a project with a very contemporary look.
The Station West development in Aldershot has yet to break ground. Their Moder’n project on Guelph Line was completed more than a year ago and fits into the community very nicely.
The Adi Link development at Dundas and Sutton in north east Burlington.
Their Link project at Dundas and Sutton is well underway.
There are still disputes with the organization that paid for the initial infrastructure work in the Orchard community. The Adi people appear to not want to pay their share of those costs at this point in time.
Tariq Adi is reported to be shocked at the rejection of the Alton project and is quoted in the Spectator as saying: “The mayor is not a fan of me and I’m not a fan of the mayor, period. He’s walking around preaching intensification and he’s talking out of both sides of his mouth.
Mayor Rick Goldring talking to an Alton resident during the last municipal election.
“He says this is not a good site for intensification when staff is saying this is the perfect site for intensification.
“We were proposing something that we believed was fair and reasonable and from a planning perspective conformed to all the official plans and growth plans that the City of Burlington was trying to do,” Adi said, “especially with the whole preaching of the intensification gospel.”
The city and the Adi people will now hire lawyers to argue before the OMB.
The one consistent factor in all this development activity is that if Adi is the company digging the hole in the ground – there will be major differences of opinion and, so far at least, two of their developments are going to the OMB.
They are quite quick to sue when they don’t get what they want.
They met on December 8th at the Gary Allan high school in Burlington for what many thought was going to be a dialogue with questions asked and answered.
It wasn’t that kind of meeting.
Scott Podabarac, an HDSB Superintendent and the Chair of the Program Accommodation Review Committee (PARC) explained that the occasion was going to be used to gather data and Kirk Perris of Ipsos and the man who will serve as the facilitator of the meetings to be held between now and next March began to put a total of 25 questions up on a screen and asking people to give their answer by using a small hand held device.
The time line the Program Accommodation Review committee will be working to.
There were 256 people responding.
The first question put to the audience was – which high school do you children attend. A little awkward for parents with children in two different high schools.
This article is an attempt to analyze the answers that were given and put them in a larger context. It is going to be published in three parts.
What needs to be fully appreciated is the imbalance that impacted everything: 58.6% of the responders were from Central high school; 16.8% from Pearson and 16.8% from Hayden; 2.7% from Aldershot; 2.3% from Nelson; 2% from Bateman and .8% from Robinson.
The issue is the recommendation from the Board to the trustees that two high schools be closed.
The recommendation the Director of Education sent to the school board trustees.
Given that the trustees are completely free to recommend the closing of any high school in the city – they could also decide to direct the Staff to not close any schools but to find a way to change boundaries.
Stewart Miller, Director of Education has said that from his perspective any high school could be closed and that is the decision they must make.
That is a little disingenuous – these trustees are never going to close Nelson, Hayden or Aldershot. Bateman is certainly at some risk – perhaps more so than Central.
Question 2 was: How important is the availability of mandatory/core courses for your child(ren) within your home school. Very 71.9%; somewhat 22.3%’ not very 4.6%; not at all 1.2%.
Question 3 was: How acceptable is it to attend a school outside of a home school for mandatory/core programming for your child(ren)? Very 8.4%; somewhat 16%; not very 24.3%; not at all 51.3%
The parents clearly want core courses available from the school in their community. Questions 2 and 3 appear to have been to determine how significant this was to parents and how open they might be to their children getting perhaps a part of their education in a school elsewhere in the city.
There was close to 400 people in the room – 256 of them responded to the 25 questions they were asked. Many of the parents didn’t like the format of the meeting.
The question addressing importance pulled 94.2% – resounding no matter how you read the answer. The question addressing accepting some classes outside the school got an equally resounding (75.6%) not at all interested,
These people want their children educated in their community.
Question 4: How important is the availability of optional elective courses within your home school for your child(ren)? Very 35.7%; somewhat 44.5%; Not very 14.4%; not at all 5.3
Question 5: How acceptable is it for your children to attend a school outside of a home school for optional/elective courses? Very 14.2%; somewhat 35.2; not very 26.8; not at all 23.8%
Question 6: How willing are you to have your child(ren) take a mandatory core course in an alternative method, e.g summer school, night school, e-learning or attend another school. Very 21%; Somewhat 20.6%; not very 21.8%; not at all 36.6%
Question 7: How willing are you to have your child(ren) take an optional elective course in an alternative method, e.g summer school, night school, e-learning or attend another school. Very 34.7%; somewhat 28.6%; not very 17.8%; not at all 18.9%
Question 8: How important it is for your high school to offer a full range of pathway programming, e.g. Workplace, college, university. Very 46.7%; somewhat 34.6%; not very 12.8%; not at all 5.8%
Questions 9 through to 16 will be analyzed and commented in a separate article; questions 17 to to 25 in a third article
When one looks at the questions one wonders why they weren’t asked in each community much earlier in the process. What parents want; what they will put up with and what they won’t tolerate would have been very useful to the board as they worked through the process of determining how they were going to resolve the problem of 1800 + classroom seats that don’t have students sitting in them.
To gather that data now and, after analyzing it, place it before the two representatives from each high school seems counterproductive.
There is no mistaking the message. It is getting through to parents?
The Board has placed large signs to the side of every high school telling people that the school is at some risk. They are there now – they could and perhaps should have been put up when the question of a Program Accommodation Review was being considered.
The Gazette takes the view that an informed community can make informed decisions. The Board and the trustees have not delivered on that responsibility.
When you see a well-known brand name you feel confident and you might read an email that came from that company.
Any email from someone you do not know – is an email you should treat with suspicion.
The head line talks about money – the greedy get pulled in by this. The content is quite different – the offer of a job, The pdf file is probably filled with malware that will do you great harm. If you don’t know the sender – don’t open the pdf and don’t respond.
The following came to us today:
“We are looking for receiving payment agent personal who will act as medium of reach between our customers and us. Their job is to receive payment from our customers within your country, Annual income:$24,000USD and 10% of any payment received from our clients.
“Our company will pay you $24,0000 as annual income, and you will get 10% of any payment you receive on behalf of our company.
Millions of dollars are stolen by thieves who want access to your identity.
“Please send us your personal information if you are interested. Names:Age: Telephone No:Sex:Occupation:Country:Bank Name:
email me at E-Mail: Peterfoods@aim.com”
There were so many red flags with this email the number of zeros in the dollar amount. The headline bears little relationship to the content. They used the brand name Kraft to catch your attention.
These thieves target the greedy and the vulnerable who get to add “broke” to how they are described. Don’t be one of them.
If you don’t know the person who sent the email – don’t open it.
Between January 1st 2016 and December 31st 2016, there were 434 reports of vehicles being entered and property stolen from them throughout the city of Burlington.
In December alone there was 49 reports of vehicles being entered.
The majority of the vehicles entered were unlocked.
The majority of the cars that had property stolen from them in 2016 were unlocked
This is a crime of opportunity and most commonly occurs overnight in the cover of darkness where culprit(s) walk along residential neighbourhood streets trying door handles until an unlocked vehicle is located. Culprit(s) are stealing items such as change, electronics, wallets, purses, sunglasses, clothing and power tools.
Police are reminding the public of the following prevention tips:
• Ensure your unattended vehicle(s) are kept locked/secure • Park in a well-lit and attended areas whenever possible • Never leave spare keys in your vehicle • Never leave personal identification or valuables in your vehicle • If you have to leave valuables in your vehicle, lock them in your trunk. Don’t tempt thieves by leaving packages or purses in plain view or on the seat. • Remove GPS navigation and cell phone devices & power cords from view when not in your vehicle • Help police catch those responsible by keeping an eye out in your communities and immediately reporting any suspicious activity.
The kids are still out of school and the weather is a little on the mild side,
Conservation Halton advises that Environment Canada is forecasting rainfall beginning late this evening and continuing through tomorrow into early Wednesday. Expected amounts will range up to approximately 20 mm.
Based on the forecast of mild temperatures and rainfall, combined with the partial melt of our existing snowpack, we may experience an increase in flows and water levels in our creeks throughout Halton. In addition, the snowpack melt may contribute to blockages at bridges and culverts and produce localized flooding concerns in low lying areas.
Widespread flooding is not currently anticipated. Our reservoirs are holding at winter levels which allow for larger storage capacity for circumstances of this nature.
Creeks on the east side of the city.
Conservation Halton is asking all residents and children to stay away from all watercourses and structures such as bridges, culverts and dams. Elevated water levels, fast flowing water, and slippery conditions along stream banks continue to make these locations extremely dangerous. Please alert children in your care of these imminent dangers.
Conservation Halton will continue to monitor stream and weather conditions and will issue further messages as necessary and will issue an update to this Watershed Condition Statement –Water Safety message only if significant changes in the forecasts occur.
This Watershed Condition Statement will be in effect through to Wednesday January 4, 2017.
Dawn Hackett-Burns is having her first solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of Burlington. The exhibit will be in the RBC Community Gallery and will run from January 3rd to the end of the month.
Hackett-Burns is the 2016/17 resident ceramic artist at the AGB where she has had access to a fully equipped that has allowed her to build a portfolio with diverse projects that support the Gallery’s programming.
The residency provides the artist with the opportunity to teach in community and studio programs, and to present new work in a solo exhibition in the RBC Community Gallery.
Dawn Hackett-Burns is described by the AGB as an emerging ceramic artist based in Greensville, Ontario. Mostly self-taught, she has honed her craft by attending workshops and receiving mentorship from ceramic artist Colleen O’Reilly. Her practice focuses on the use of pattern and repetition, and colours that speak to vibrant cultures observed in her travels.
The residency has allowed Hackett-Burns to explore different ideas and formats, and the work in this exhibition is a direct result of the residency.
The work presented in this exhibition is hand built and the patterning is elevated through low relief carving and hand-painted designs. Hackett-Burns has taught children’s classes at the Art Gallery of Burlington for the past eight years, and her teaching often intersects with her artistic practice.
The public reception is on Tuesday January 3, 6pm-8pm
Nominations for Burlington’s Best Awards come from the community and there have been some much deserved awards given in the past. There have some unfortunate choices when a husband nominated a wife or a Mother a son. The purpose was to have a community nominate one of their own.
For the most part the awards have been free from any political influence but there are political influencers on the committee that makes the choices. In the past there have been categories that didn’t draw much in the way of nominations.
The recipient of an award gets a unique plaque from the city along with a piece of art.
What the nominations committee has not done in our experience was decide not to make an award in a category and we don’t recall them ever retiring a category. Accessibility was added as a category this year.
The ticket price could be a little lower; if not then give value for money and don’t let the buffet tables empty quite as quickly.
This is a social event where people who quietly serve their fellow citizens are recognized. There have been some who in the past were thickening their resumes for political purposes.
Nominations opened December 1 in eight award categories, including the new Accessibility Award. The winners in all categories are revealed at a celebration held in May each year.
There are eight award categories:
Citizen of the Year: A person whose volunteer activity has made a significant and sustained contribution to the vibrancy and wellbeing of the Burlington community.
Junior Citizen of the year: A high school student 18 years or younger who has made a significant contribution to the Burlington community.
Senior Person of the year: A person 55 years or older who has advocated on behalf of seniors and/or made a significant contribution to the Burlington community.
Environmental Award: An individual or group that improved and/or protects Burlington’s environment.
Arts Person of the Year: An individual who has contributed to the arts in Burlington as an artist, patron or advocate including but not limited to, visual arts, media arts, musical arts, performing arts and literary arts.
Community Service Award: An individual or group whose volunteer activity has contributed to the betterment of the Burlington community.
Heritage Award: An individual who has demonstrated a commitment to the preservation of Burlington’s heritage, and has volunteered their time in an effort to support the preservation of Burlington’s heritage.
Accessibility Award (new category): An individual, organization or business that has made significant contributions to increase access and participation of people with disabilities in the Burlington community.
Winners of the 2015 Burlington Best awards
Nominations will be accepted until Feb. 17, 2017.
Nomination forms can be completed online at www.burlington.ca/best or by picking up a form at the clerks department at City Hall, 426 Brant St.
Mary Kay Aird, Chair; Burlington Best.
Members of the committee that evaluate the nominations are: Mary Kay Aird, Chair; Calah Brooks, vice chair; Keith Strong; Victor Lesnicki; Adam Smith; Ann Coburn; Matthew Cocklin; Sarah Dunsford and Vicki Singh.
It was the place to be if you had kids with more energy than you had on this first day of th year 2017.
There were hundreds of kids running all over the place with almost every one of the rooms at Tansley Woods occupied with one children’s activity or another.
The occasion was used to announce what some of money the politicians were going to do with the tax money we gave them to look after our well being,
From the left Burlington MP Karina Gould, in the center Pam Damoff, MP for Oakville North Burlington and Burlington MPP Eleanor McMahon who also serves as the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sports for the province.
Burlington MP Karina Gould did most of the talking and reminded the audience that, January 1st, marks the beginning of the 150th anniversary of our country’s Confederation.
The Government of Canada’s vision for the 150th anniversary centres upon four major key themes: diversity and inclusiveness, the environment, young people and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. This anniversary is an opportunity for all Canadians to reflect on our shared history, consider the path we have taken so far, while also looking to the future with optimism.
Gould announced that the Art Gallery of Burlington and the Halton District School Board and the city were to receive project funding.
Laura Martin – started the New Year painting faces.
The Canada 150 Fund, will provide $49,500 to the City of Burlington for its reaffirmation citizenship ceremony and the Art Gallery of Burlington Celebration Quilt.
The Government of Canada will also be providing $97,000 to the Halton District School Board for their Truth and Reconciliation project for their students.
The 150th anniversary of Canada is an opportunity to come together to celebrate our shared values, our achievements, our majestic environments and our place in the world. It is a time to celebrate what it means to be Canadian.
The city’s annual New Year’s Day event at Tansley Woods – hundreds of children scooting about the place.
Mayor Rick Goldring, Executive Director of the Art Gallery of Burlington, Robert Steven and Executive Director of the Sound of Music Festival, Dave Miller now have some of their funding for the year locked in.
The Canada Day citizenship ceremony should be a block buster.
Mayor Goldring told the small crowd that the city oversees or sponsors 168 events in the city each year.
The kids didn’t seem to care – they were scooting in and out of the small crowd listening to the politicians – they will be the ones to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the formal formation of this country – Canada.
By Staff
The top 10 cities where you can find monogamous people, as well as the top 10 cities where you can find monogamous men and monogamous women (and Burlington features on all three lists, coming 5th overall, 7th on the men’s list, and 8th on the women’s).
Participants in the study were asked to rank the extent to which they agreed with the sentiment ‘I believe that monogamy is essential in a relationship’; placing themselves on a scale of 1 (do not agree at all) to 7 (agree completely). As it turns out, Canadians are strongly in favour of monogamy: the average result for women was 6.3, while men average 5.7.
By Pepper Parr
The city now faces a local developer, the ADI development Group, on two development proposals – the Nautique that they want to build at the intersection of Martha and Lakeshore Road and the two 19 storey apartment buildings with a collection of townhouse they want to build at the edge of the Alton Community just south of the 407 at Appleby Line.
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
James Burchill is the founder of Social Fusion Network – an organization that helps local business connect and network. He also writes about digital marketing, entrepreneurship and technology and when he’s not consulting, he teaches people to start their own ‘side hustle.’
Conservation Halton advises that Environment Canada is forecasting rainfall beginning late this evening and continuing through tomorrow into early Wednesday. Expected amounts will range up to approximately 20 mm.
Hackett-Burns is the 2016/17 resident ceramic artist at the AGB where she has had access to a fully equipped that has allowed her to build a portfolio with diverse projects that support the Gallery’s programming.
Citizen of the Year: A person whose volunteer activity has made a significant and sustained contribution to the vibrancy and wellbeing of the Burlington community.
