 By Staff
December 10th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
OFFICIAL Congratulations are in order. !!!!!
 Finalist award  The photograph was created by a women taking part in a Muslim Call to Prayer that took place in Spencer Smith Park last July. The Canadian Online Publishers Association (COPA) announced that the Burlington Gazette 2015 Inc has been named a finalist in one category for the 2021 COPAs.
The selection was for Media in the Best Photo Journalism category.
The photograph was taken by Denis Gibbons who was on assignment for the Gazette covering a Muslin Call to Prayer that took place in Spencer Smith Park on June 11th, 2021
That story is HERE
 By Ryan O’Dowd
December 10th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Burlington’s first annual Holiday Market kicked off Thursday evening running from 4 pm to 9 pm downtown Burlington and will showcase local Burlington businesses all weekend.
The market’s first night started slowly, traffic on the Elgin Promenade was scarce until crowds slowly began to funnel in around 6 pm. Still, the mood around the festivities was positive. Shop owners were excited to showcase their wares in the outdoor marketplace, happy to be free of the rigid pandemic restrictions that have limited capacity for the better part of two years.
 Back by Bees. Aimee(right) Chrissie (left) The local Burlington business owners set up tents along the snow-swept promenade beneath strings of lights shining red, green, and gold. The temperatures were low on the windy winter evening but customers could ease the chill with drinks from a booth in the Poacher parking lot, operated by the restaurant.
Many of the vendors used this opportunity to craft holiday-specific items for purchase at the market while raising brand awareness. The eponymous owner of Joseph Tassoni sold designer Christmas Holiday Trees as opposed to his award-winning parkas and other fashion items, which were showcased in the background. Tassoni said he was proud to showcase his products made right there in downtown Burlington and is filling what he sees as a void in mid-priced fashion.
 Joseph Tassoni with examples of what ‘made in downtown Burlington’ actually is. “What I wanted to do is kind of engage into as many markets as possible to interact with the community again, and kind of give them an example as to what ‘made in downtown Burlington’ actually is. Often brands claim to be made in Canada, when the majority of the time it’s made overseas, and they just flip it here. So it’s kind of wonderful to show people what we are capable of in our crafts.”
The Odd Spot is following suit with seasonal original items in the form of “mystery boxes.” You don’t know what you’re buying with the boxes but they feature 10 items from the store and a gift card. It’s an approach Rich from the Odd Spot thinks will make for a great gift.
“We’ve jammed all kinds of stuff in there, there’s a t-shirt in there and a bunch of servers over 30 bucks with the stuff in there. And then we also threw a $5 to $10 denomination gift card inside. Just kind of as a gift. So you pay 20 bucks to give someone a gift but you don’t even know what it is. And then they open it. And then there’s a gift card inside. If they like the stuff they come back.”
That the market was a celebration of all things local became a familiar refrain throughout the evening. Aimee with Backed by Bees discussed the focus on sustainability and using local Ontario goods.
“We’re looking for sustainability products. So everything that you see is local to Ontario. Made by us by small vendors in the area. We do local produce, farm fresh eggs, and dairy. We specialize in raw honey which is unprocessed and pasteurized. We do all kinds of different flavors but specialize in raw honey, and with that honey we make our mead. So it’s a circular process and we have a whole lot of ways to try to do our best for these sustainability efforts.”
 Gift Baskets: The contributing artists must live within an hour of Burlington. Lindsay with the Handmade House was showcasing local artists’ works with gift baskets at the event. The contributing artists must live within an hour of Burlington. Tomorrow the Handmade House will feature “build your own gift boxes”
“And then what we’re doing tonight is just a selection of gift baskets because we can’t possibly showcase all the thousands of beautiful things we have. So our vendors have put together some gift boxes to show everybody what we can offer there for sale and then we’d like to send people up to the storefront.”
The crowd, small in numbers on the first evening, did not lack for enthusiasm.
“It’s great to see things like this, it just feels like things are back to normal,” said Jessica, a woman browsing in the market.
“Burlington always does a good job with markets, it’s a fun atmosphere,” said Martha, who tries to make it out every time Burlington hosts an event like this.
The Burlington Holiday Market has promised fun, family friendly activities including concerts and choirs, interactive community art features, and advent-style community displays. These were not showcased on the first evening of the event so expect them over the weekend. Thursday featured 13 vendors, lower than the announced 20+, perhaps more will arrive as the weekend progresses.
After a rough couple of years for retail, participating vendors are certainly hoping the buzz around the market will build throughout the weekend. The market will run with much longer hours over the coming days: 11 am to 9 pm on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
By Staff
December 9th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Will the State of Emergency be lifted soon?
And if it is – what difference will it make to the lives we live each day.
Definition and Authority
An emergency is defined under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act as “a situation, or an impending situation that constitutes a danger of major proportions that could result in serious harm to persons or substantial damage to property and that is caused by the forces of nature, a disease or other health risk, an accident or an act whether intentional or otherwise”
Under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, only the head of council of a municipality (or his or her designate) and the Lieutenant Governor in Council or the Premier have the authority to declare an emergency. The Premier, the head of council, as well as a municipal council, have the authority to terminate an emergency declaration
Criteria
established to assist the Mayor/Council in determining if/when our existing state of emergency should be terminated.
When considering whether to terminate a declaration of emergency, a positive response to one or more of the following criteria may indicate that a situation, warrants the termination of declaration of emergency.
City Staff are thinking through what will have to be clanged if the State of Emergency is lifted – but we aren’t there yet.
The Covid infection numbers for the day – province, Region and Burlington,
 Regional Covid19 infections as of December 8th
 Burlington Covid19 infections as of December 8th
By Staff
December 9th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Just a reminder that the Sound of Music our Silent (Night) Holiday Auction is LIVE on their website until Friday, Dec 10 @ 4pm. Get your bids in soon!
 That is an impressive list of items. When they say Silent Bids – you get one chance to bid and hope that yours was the offer. Remember – bidding is BLIND – be sure to enter your best offer as you will not be notified if you are out bid. Good Luck!
Click HERE to bid
 By Pepper Parr
December 8th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Without information technology the city could not open the doors each day.
A lot of very smart people make the technology do what it is expected to do – and making it work is a challenge.
 Chad MacDonald: Chief Information Officer Different computer applications have to learn to “talk” to each other and feed information to each other so that senior staff and council can have an up to date (sometimes up to the minute) information on which to make decisions.
The other given for the technology, the people is money – this stuff is wickedly expensive and the people who work in Information Technology are not cheap – and there aren’t enough of them to go around.
Municipalities will poach from each other to get people who can make it all come together.
Earlier in the week Council got a Status Report on some of the projects for the period August to October.
It wasn’t all bad news – but there wasn’t a lot of really really good news for Council.
The program budget for the Enterprise Resource Planning program is $9,480,000 with more required in the near future. A Council report and funding request will be presented in April of 2022. The ask then is in the $3 million range.
One of the problems with keeping on top of these essential but very essential programs is that few of the seven members have much in the way of an understanding of what is involved. Councillors Sharman and Kearns have a good grip on the subject: Kearns is the sharper of the two.
Sharman is good at holding senior Staff to account. There was an “iconic” Council session last year when Sheila Jones went toe to toe with Councillor Sharman with Jones reminding the Councillor that the approach for members of Council was “noses in – fingers out”.
Councillor Sharman does, from time to time get down into the weeds – the Senior staff in place now are quite good at curbing that Sharman habit.
Burlington has a number of projects delivering customer centric services with a focus on efficiency and technology transformation. Specifically, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Enterprise Asset Management Software (EAMS), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Business Intelligence (BI) have a corporate designation reflecting the breadth and depth of the scope of these projects and their contribution to achieving customer first approach and digital transformation.
This report also provided information on the theory of status reporting and the key elements of status reports in the City of Burlington including:
Overall project status that considers scope, budget, and schedule and where clear criteria is established to objectively assess the status within each area.
A brief description of the project and alignment to strategic goals.
Highlights of key achievements since the last reporting period and key tasks planned for the upcoming period.
Highlights of critical risks and challenges that form part of the risk management plan.
Key tasks that address communications and engagement and information related to staff resourcing.
Links to documents or tools and other information that may be relevant based on the project status.
In keeping with open communication and engagement, the report provides Committee and Council with an update on each of the three corporate initiatives including overall status, key milestones, critical risks, and other relevant information with the goal of providing assurance that project governance is working effectively.
While the criteria and guidance for assessing a project’s health status have recently been amended within the context of overall project management practices with Information Technology Services, we are deferring its use until 2023. This deferral will provide us with an opportunity to take a refreshed look at the report template to enhance the information reported to council. In addition, we are reviewing our inventory of corporate- wide projects to appropriate status reporting is provided to Council.
 The most critical computer application that is being worked up has too many serious risk points. It is too late to go back. The CRM application should be dropped. Hydro installed one that works just fine – borrow from them. Councillors Nisan, Bentivegna, Stolte and to a considerable degree Councillor Galbraith are lost when technology is the issue. They are easily snowed by Staff. Burlington has a mix of computer applications that have reached the end of their life cycle and are no longer being supported; other applications have to be revised or replaced in order to communicate with the larger more robust applications that are being used now.
 Some budget items can baffle people because of their complexity. It becomes very difficult to hold Staff accountable.  Understanding complex integrated information technology matters is beyond most Councillors. To understand the size of the challenge calls for some literacy which most of the Councillors don’t have. The Mayor tends to take what she hears on faith knowing that she can collar the city manager during their weekly meetings that are not on the record.
Sometime ago the city began integrating a Customer Response Management (CRM) program – the first step did not go well. Members of Council were livid and demanded that the city administration not get in between the Councillors and the voters.
There were solid reasons for putting a CRM program in place when it went kaflooey the Councillors were in a position to demand immediate changes. That dynamic is unlikely to apply to other situations.
It is generally realized and understood that data is needed to make decisions and that for the most part the data is “in there somewhere” Isolating the data and setting it up so that it is accessible by other applications is the expensive challenge the city faces.
The Business Information reviews have been completed; they gave the Information Technology people a deep understanding of their operational needs. Chad MacDonland, Chief Information Officer told Council that the work has gone so well that his team has been able to show staff demonstration version of what the completed integration will look like.
 Is this the kind of thing a Council member would lust over However, all the information requirements were not met. Councillor Sharman said that he “lusts after the sense of confidence” he would get from seeing Gantt Charts – and asked if they existed and if they existed were they available.
Executive Director Jones reminded Sharman that the Councillors role was: “noses in, fingers out”.
The Gantt charts exist – no assurance that Sharman will get to see them.
 By Pepper Parr
December 8th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
When a book store closes there is a tear in the social fabric that is hard to repair. Something that was – isn’t anymore.
 Scheduled to close at the end of January. At the end of January Fly By Night – Antiques and Books will close its doors for the last time. Personal health reasons are such that Michael Cowan, who has been running the store for more than 20 years, can’t do the work anymore.
The focus is on used books with every imaginable title in a store that is a collection of shelves that go to the ceiling and packed in stacks on the floor as well.
Cowan started with just books but developed a personal interest in antique items and began stocking things that appealed to him. It grew into a strong part of his business.
The books are sourced by a person called a “picker” who gets called when there is a household that might be moving and wants to get rid of the books.
People managing an estate will call the picker and ask him to just please pick up everything and get rid of it.
 Row upon row of shelves that were a destination for those who were looking for something new to read. For book lovers these stores are paradise – a place to spend hours glancing over titles.
Bob “G”, was uncomfortable having his last name used, said he is “out of the picking business, too old to do the running around and lugging heavy boxes of books.”
He tells the story of once picking a guitar that he paid $20 for and then learned it was an antique Gibson that he resold for $22.000
“The last time Michael and I counted the inventory there were more than 20,000 titles on the shelves.”
The bookstore has a small but very loyal customer base that drops in regularly; they are in the 60 to 85 age range and each as their own interest area. The store has customers who read Westerns; other who like everything they can find on the two World Wars and others that look for romance or mystery titles.
 Michael Cowan – books and people are the two things he knows. Cowan started with operating a bookstore in Oakville and moved to Burlington which has always been seen as a good book market.
Bob adds that there are fewer buyers; the younger people aren’t readers and they aren’t nearly as many true book lovers.
Mike was a generous person, he helped the down and out; he wasn’t in the business to make money. He loved books and he loved people.
Store closes at the end of January. Michael’s brother Rick is handling the closing.
Why a bookstore named Fly By Night. Not exactly the name one would put on the lease application. Has to do with owls.
In 1921, the Oskee Wee Wee cheer was first used at a Hamilton Tigers football game. Back then, there were two teams in Hamilton — the Tigers and the Wildcats. They merged in 1950 to become the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
 Three Interesting facts about the Grey Cup Trophy
It may not be the usual month that Canadians are treated to all that this tournament has to offer, but the 108th Grey Cup is just around the corner. With all of the action kicking off on 12th December, we thought that it would be a great time to reflect on the history of this Cup.
While the Grey Cup may not be quite as popular as the NFL, it is still big business in Canada. According to research by Betway Insider, the Grey Cup still stacks up well against the NFL Super Bowl and brings Canadians the same thrill that their US counterparts experience. So much so that even Burlington residents were behind getting the Grey Cup game to Hamilton in 2021. Some of the draw of the Grey Cup is down to its history and some of the interesting facts that can be attributed to it. Let’s take a look at the top three:
Fire struck the 35th Grey Cup
It was back in 1947 that the Toronto Argonauts rowing club building caught fire. It didn’t just catch fire – the building was burnt down in its entirety. Inside this building was no other than the Grey Cup and there was real concern that this could spell the end of the tournament for that year with no cup to award. Fate, however, had different ideas.
The shelf that was home to the cup had collapsed during the fire. Every trophy on that shelf had fallen to the ground and been destroyed. All except for one. By some miracle, the Grey Cup fell but found itself caught in a nail. This saved the cup from the engulfing fire.
The Grey Cup sees more points being scored than the Super Bowl
What makes a game exciting and the ultimate in entertainment is the number of points that are scored. The more points the bigger the thrill and the more intense a game becomes. When you compare the Grey Cup to the NFL Super Bowl, the way in which points are awarded is almost the same. There is, however, a difference.
The CFL provides a wider field, extra receiver, and unlimited movement before the snap. The result? A fast-paced and higher-scoring game. Research from Betway Insider has shown that the last 25 Grey Cups have seen 1,312 points being scored compared to 1,201 at the Super Bowl.
The Grey Cup has been stolen three times – so far!
 The RCMP keep the Grey Cup safe. The Grey Cup is clearly an attractive trophy. So attractive that thieves have targeted it three times. The first time was back in 1967 with the cup being stolen from the Hamilton Tiger-cats. It appeared that this was more about a prank than a real ambition to keep the cup as it was found abandoned some three days later.
1969 saw the Grey Cup being stolen for the second time. This time it was taken from the Ottawa Rough Riders only to turn up in a hotel locker. The most recent occasion came in 1997 when Toronto kicker Mike Vanderjagt had it stolen from him in a bar. Fortunately, it was recovered the very next day.
 By Staff
December 8th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
It all starts late Thursday afternoon.
The first annual Holiday Market for Burlington; an event patterned after the very successful markets that have taken place in Europe for decades.
The vendor list is acceptable, the locations are close to each other.
Now we wait for the actual roll out and see how it works.
 Will it be filled with people Thursday night and through the weekend?
By Pepper Parr
December 7th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
The City Hall communications people put out a media release on the taxi situation in the city.
With the Public Vehicle By-law amendments providing a temporary solution to replace lost taxi service, the City of Burlington is sharing that Blue Line Taxi company has been issued a new taxi licence. Blue Line Taxi will start to service Burlington residents today. To book taxi service, Burlington residents can call Blue Line Taxi by phone (905) 525-0000 or book online at 525blue.com.
 905-525-0000 will bring one of these cabs to your door The by-law that governs the issuance of new taxi licences was written to meet the needs of the taxi business model that existed in 2009. To allow new business to enter the Burlington transportation market, City staff recommended interim by-law amendments. These amendments provide flexibility in the application process to meet the demands of current business models.
Quick Facts
- Burlington’s main taxi service provider Burlington Taxi ceased operation on Nov.26, 2021
- At the Nov. 30, 2021 Special Council meeting, City Council approved amending the Public Vehicle By-law to allow exemptions to existing licensing requirements so other taxi services could apply to provide service for Burlington residents
- The by-law amendments allowed applications for new taxi owner licences/plates to open on Dec. 2, 2021 until all spaces are full
- The by-law amendments are intended to provide a temporary solution. City staff are aiming to undertake a comprehensive review and consultation and have a new by-law created prior to December 31, 2023.
- Further review is required not only to determine appropriate taxi licensing requirements, but to investigate the ‘rideshare’ businesses and options for regulating that market.
 Mayor Marianne Meed Ward Mayor Marianne Meed Ward said: “I know we all welcome the news that taxi service can resume in our community as early as today, and in time for the holidays. I want to thank the successful applicant for coming forward, and I’m grateful to City staff and my Council colleagues for working quickly to find a temporary solution to restore taxi service in Burlington immediately. I also thank staff for their ongoing efforts to bring forward a permanent solution to this issue. As well, thank you to Burlington Taxi for their 53 years of dedicated service to our community.”
 Ward 4 Councillor Shawna Stolte Ward 4 Councillor Shawna Stolte said: “As we learned earlier this morning, amendments to our Vehicle/Taxi Bylaw will allow us to welcome 13 new taxi vehicles onto to our streets as of today, Tuesday, December 7, 2021. Staff are open and eager to review additional licenses to increase this number of available taxi vehicles as multiple companies in the taxi industry continue to come forward with applications. It was unfortunate that these changes and amendments were not considered before the closure of Burlington Taxi as this could have avoided the subsequent transportation crisis for many Burlington residents, but I am relieved that an expedient way forward was sought by staff and I look forward to the renewed commitment to this valuable mode of transportation for Burlington residents in the future.”
There is some “shame on you” to be spread around on this one.
Related new stories:
Scott Wallace Talks Back
Burlington Taxi announces the need to close
By Pepper Parr
December 7th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
 The Town of Milton bit the bullet and accepted a 5.47tax increase last night is there a message for Burlington Marianne Meed Ward?
Milton Mayor Gord Krantz has been saying for some time that Burlington is going to have to get used to higher buildings and higher taxes.
The antics at city Council last week look like an attempt to stem the tide.
With the budget being debated at 4.95% perhaps council should quite while they are ahead.
 By Pepper Parr
December 7th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
There is taxi service- city hall is issuing temporary licenses to drivers who can be on the road by the end of the day.
Blue Line of Hamilton will be offering the service.
 The number to call is on the cab – 525-0000 Add the 905
Calls for service will go to the Blue Line dispatch which is described as very robust.
Taxi rates are determined by the municipality. Blue Line rates are lower than what Burlington taxi was asking for – so there will be cars and drivers on the road and it will cost you less.
Blue Line has taken up 40 of the 51 driver/car slots that were available.
If you want a cab – call Blue Line.
They have an App – and they offer a number of services.
Blue Line is working with the Boards of Education and the hospital.
More detail is expected from the city soon.
Wondering how Scott Wallace is feeling about all this.
 By Pepper Parr
December 7th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
 Did you ever had a puppy that you had to train not to piddle on the floor? I had one and when he did his business where he wasn’t supposed to I’d give him a stern look and call him a bad dog and put him in his business box.
Scott Wallace did just that, gave Mayor Meed Ward a couple of paragraphs of some strong language when he wrote the following letter:
Our response to the Mayor’s statement on November 24th has not come easily. We must speak to the facts that outline our last few years urging for change in our local taxi industry. We could not be more proud of our Burlington Taxi team for their hard work and dedication over the last 53 years.
With all due respect, we take strong exception to our Mayor’s statement that asserts, “the Taxi By-Laws were written to protect Burlington Taxi” and that our “closure was unrelated to the by-law review request in 2018.”
We ask, what exactly has the By-Law protected? Did the By-Law protect the taxi drivers now out of work since November 2021? Did the By-Law protect Burlington Taxi from having to shut down its operations? Did the By-law protect taxi companies from unregulated competition; ride share companies that have enjoyed the luxury of no city license fees, no federal taxes, no commercial insurance, no vulnerable sector criminal checks, nor an obligation to support wheelchair accessible transportation?
 Former Ward 6 Councillor Blair Lancaster talks with Scott Wallace, proprietor of Burlington Taxi. Lancaster was on the Council that Wallace had taken his concerns about the taxi industry in 2018. It gives us no pleasure to say that the city’s process failed to support its business community, taking little notice of our repeated pleas over the years for comprehensive change.
We saw the tsunami coming (Uber/Lyft drivers, the pandemic, a severe labour shortage, a spike in insurance rates). What we missed was the acknowledgement that our By-law request in November was one small part of a fulsome City By-law review initiated in 2018.
For the record, our final plea in November was to allow our drivers to continue working as employees under new Burlington Taxi ownership, and further give them the ability to align themselves with other Cab companies of their choice as independent operators, as every other city does in North America.
Facts don’t lie. The last time the City of Burlington reviewed its taxi by-laws was in 2009, which was written based on the recommendations of a consulting firm hired by the city of Burlington, not the taxi industry.
In 2016, the City was urged to review the new unregulated ride share service (Uber). Council and staff agreed to complete a review of these services. Our industry concern had little to do with Uber itself, but everything to do with regulation of the Uber business model. Regulation is what keeps people safe and ensures fair play among businesses. In Burlington’s case, the ride share industry has no responsibility to anyone – not to the city, not to its drivers, and definitely not to its customers. As a rider, if you experience an unsafe ride, or are a victim of excessive surge pricing, there is no one to call. The city has not regulated ride share companies, perhaps a way to absolve its responsibility, but it certainly doesn’t solve the problem.
Our former council, recognized that our Taxi By-Law was antiquated and in desperate need of comprehensive review. That is why, in early 2018, the former Mayor directed the City to commence a comprehensive review. Public record shows the details surrounding this direction. Nothing came of this.
 Not liking the sound of that letter. Was it even read? We thank our current Mayor for her recognition and issuing her statement on December 2nd regarding taxi, that, “In 2019, city staff formed a small team to look into the by-law review and removed the motion from the regular reporting list, with a plan to report back to council on progress. That report didn’t happen… We acknowledge that the review should have occurred. It didn’t, and for that, we take responsibility.”
 “Facts don’t lie. The last time the City of Burlington reviewed its taxi by-laws was in 2009, which was written based on the recommendations of a consulting firm hired by the city of Burlington, not the taxi industry.” It should not go without mention that we have reached out at regular intervals to the city, each time trusting in their reassurance that the by-laws would be changed.
The election of new city representatives unfortunately sidelined the former Council’s directive for a comprehensive review of the taxi industry and our hope for actual change.
Following our closure last month, Council has re-committed the City to reviewing and updating the Taxi By-Law.
Our hope is that the City will NOW actually follow through with meaningful change.
Our thanks to Ward 4 Councillor, Shawna Stolte, for taking up the torch and advocating for change.
Our City deserves it.
One small ray of hope. There will be a Verbal Update on Licensing of New Taxi Businesses in Burlington at a Standing Committee on Tuesday.
By Pepper Parr
December 6th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Fifty million – and not enough information in the hands of the public.
City Council agreed this afternoon to make a formal offer to purchase the Bateman High School property for $50 million.
 Council agrees to make an Offer to purchase the Bateman site Mayor Meed Ward said the site will become the biggest facility in the city –more than twice the size of Tansley Woods which is the largest at this point.
To the surprise of this reporter we learned that the pool is not owned by the city – Halton District School Board (HDSB) appears to be the owner.
 It will be a shared space with plenty of space for community events There are all kinds of details that are not known; the HDSB will retain some of the space, Brock University is in talks with the city to rent space, Tech Place is going to need an affordable place to operate and has eyes on the Bateman location and the Library might become a tenant as well.
 Councillors Stolte and Kearns hold off on fully agreeing to the decision to purchase; they want much more information in the hands of the public. Councillor Sharman put is quite clearly when he said this was not an agreement to purchase – this was an agreement to continue discussions with the vendor.
The task now he said “ is to figure out how to pay for it.”
The matter comes up again in March of next year.
At the Special meeting of City Council this afternoon two of the seven members of Council voted not to approve the decision to make a formal offer: Councillor Kearns and Stolte took a pass on putting their thumbprint on this one.
 By DENIS GIBBONS
December 6th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Frosty the Snowman and more than 100 of his brothers and sisters have made an early Christmas visit to Burlington’s Lockhart community.
The plastic, blow-up images of the Yuletide characters dot the lawns of almost every home in the area, behind the old John A Lockhart School.
It’s all part of the Frosty’s Village program, organized by several mothers, to spur donations to the Burlington Foodbank.
 Campbell Court was alive with Christmas music On Saturday night a selection of musicians from various bands in the city gathered at the end of Campbell Court to entertain folks, who accompanied them by singing Christmas carols.
The concert was organized by Marg MacVinnie, who now is retired from her job on the Waterfront Project for the City of Burlington, with the help of Jan Boomgardt, Sue Hall, Cathy Hall and Phyllis Wallen.
The volunteers were able to secure a grant of $1,500 from the City’s Community Support Fund to organize the concert and another one, which will be held this Saturday night at 7 on the promenade of Spencer Smith Park.
 76 trombones led the big parade. Children will be able to learn bucket-drumming on metal pails then follow Burlington’s Junior Redcoats as the march along the edge of Lake Ontario.
Purpose of the fund was to encourage neighbourhoods, arts, recreation, sports and culture groups to create new ways of connecting with each other.
Three mothers came up with the idea for the blow-up Frosty’s.
 Three-year-old Quinn McMahon watches the concert from the shoulders of her granddaddy Alan Sharkey. Frosty’s Village has brought in hundreds of food donations for the local food bank.
They collected about 900 pounds of food last year, and are hoping to double the donations after formally partnering with the Burlington Food Bank.
The Lockhart Community is named after the late John A Lockhart, who served as Principal of Central Elementary School for 26 years, then as Mayor of Burlington from 1957 to 1961 after completing his education career.
By Staff
December 5th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Council is expected to recommend the standing committee Chair and Vice-Chair appointments for 2022, and the appointments to the Licensing Committee, as follows:
 Councillor Galbraith will back up Lisa Kearns as Chair of the Budget Committee. It will be a quieter year for this Committee EICS: Environment, Infrastructure & Community Services Committee
Chair: Councillor Kelvin Galbraith Vice Chair: Councillor Shawna Stolte
CPRM: Community Planning, Regulation & Mobility Committee
Chair: Councillor Shawna Stolte Vice Chair: Councillor Rory Nisan
CSSRA: Corporate Services, Strategy, Risk and Accountability Committee
Chair: Councillor Rory Nisan
Vice Chair: Councillor Paul Sharman
 Councillor Angelo Bentivegna remains chair of workshops. Council Workshop
Chair: Councillor Angelo Bentivegna (remains the same) Vice-Chair: Councillor Lisa Kearns
Budget
Chair: Councillor Lisa Kearns (Moves from Vice Chair to Chair) Vice-Chair: Kelvin Galbraith
License and Appeals Committee
Chair: Paul Sharman
Council Representatives (2 required):
Councillor Kelvin Galbraith Councillor Lisa Kearns
Each year, the mayor recommends for council approval appointments of Chair and Vice Chair for standing committees.
There are two notable changes from 2021. There is no longer a separate chair for Community Planning Regulation and Mobility Statutory Public Meeting. These meetings will be chaired by the Chair of the regular CPRM. There is a new License and Appeals Committee and the clerk has requested a chair and two members of council to be appointed to serve.
In making my recommendations to Council said Mayor Meed Ward the guiding principles include attempting to accommodate specific requests where received, providing accommodations for specific personal circumstances as needed, providing opportunity to serve on different committees, and offering fairness, balance and equity of opportunity for each member to serve as chair of one of the three standing committees within a two-year period.
Normal practice to achieve this equity is for the Vice Chair to move into the Chair position the following year. There are six committees, so all members of council will have an opportunity to serve as Chair of a committee and Vice Chair of a committee in 2022. Audit committee selects their own Chair and Vice Chair by a vote of the membership.
As 2022 is an election year, the term of Chair/Vice Chair will end with the council term. A new slate of Chairs/Vice Chairs for the balance of 2022 and 2023 will be chosen in November once the new council takes office.
 By Pepper Parr
December 4th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Photo by DENIS GIBBONS
It wasn’t a parade but Santa did manage t get around town with the aide of Fire department volunteers on Saturday.
 Small groups gathered at intersections to watch Santa in a Fire truck drive by. They will be back out on the streets of the city on Sunday.
 He isn’t really sure what’s coming his way.  Taking it all in as best they can during a pandemic
 Santa Drive By
By Denis Gibbons
December 5th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
 Staff from Hospital’s Labour and Delivery Unit handing out Christmas packages. Photo by DENIS GIBBONS Burlingtonians, who purchased Join the Joy gift boxes to support Joseph Brant Hospital’s Labour and Delivery Unit, were able to pick up their gift boxes in the parking lot of Access Storage on Fairview St. on Saturday.
The boxes contained fun items like a family-friendly game, hot chocolate, magical reindeer dust and holiday crafts.
 Retired fire fighters keeping an eye on an antique fire truck. Photo by DENIS GIBBONS
Veteran Burlington firefighters had their 1922 fire truck, which is housed in Kilbride, on display as they handed out candy canes to children
Tasty pastries were handed out by employees of COBS Bread Bakery, representatives of FastSigns accepted letters to Santa and Paladin Security had its cars and men on hand to act as Santa’s secret service.
 Pepper Parr
December 4th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
Some background on the budget process to put what took place last week in context.
Staff prepare a budget setting out what they believe is needed in the way of funding to operate the city.
They prepare a Capital Budget and an Operating Budget.
 There is a lot of work done to get the drafts of the budget completed including presentations to Council at Standing Committees.
That budget is then debated at a Council Standing Committee. Burlington uses BARs (Budget Action Requests) prepared by each council member setting out where they would like to see changes made in specific items.
Those BARs then become the agenda for the budget meeting
This is the process when Council tells staff what they want made in the way of changes.
The work Staff does is administrative; the work done at Council is both administrative and political. Council members have views and projects they want to advance; see it as the individual council member’s agenda.
The Mayor also has an agenda.
And 2020 is an election year.
The budget timeline was to have council do its work on the Tuesday and Thursday and send a recommendation to Council that would be dealt with on December 14th.
That didn’t happen. The four votes required to get a recommendation to Council just weren’t to be had.
 Budget Committee Chair Rory Nisan Between now and the 14th individual council members were asked to review their original decisions and come up with ways they think they could get closer to whatever number is going to be acceptable to the Mayor and Rory Nisan Chair of the Budget Committee.
Council would review the recommendation on the 14th, vote on it and if at least four votes for the budget can be found at council it passes and we would all know what we were looking at in the way of taxes for 2022.
However, if at any point in the process a member asks that the vote be called the Chair has to call the vote. If the Chair doesn’t call the vote he will be challenged this time and forced to call the vote.
Councillor Sharman tried to force a calling of the vote at Standing Committee on Thursday but got stiffed by Chair Nisan who understood the rules better than Sharman.
As messy as all this has been there was one point that everyone agreed upon before the Standing Committee recessed on Thursday – any ideas for changes would be run by Treasurer Joan Ford who would coordinate whatever was put in front of the Standing Committee on the 14th.
 Joan Ford, Executive Director of Finance, has a busy few days ahead of her if there is going to be a Council recommended budget. Ms Ford has a busy weekend ahead of her – she can expect a majority of the members of council to be on the phone to her. Fortunately for Burlington this is a treasurer who knows the budget and the ramifications when changes are made. She has been supported by Lori Jivan who has been crunching the numbers. At some point Ms Jivan will be treasurer somewhere – she has been doing a great job.
As for Mayor Meed Ward she desperately needs a vote from the Committee that recommends a budget.
Without that her re-election prospects are at serious risk. As it is, the myth that she leads a Council that is reading from the same hymn book is no more.
Related news items:
Is the budget the first municipal election skirmish?
Sharman pushes Council to get more information when preparing budgets.
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
 By Pepper Parr
December 4th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
When budgets are put together there is the opportunity to get a closer look at all the wheels and cogs that make the city work day to day.
We learned last week that 47% of the cost of running the city is on the Human Resources side and that in this budget there was an expense of $40,000 to cover the cost of the provincial legislation that raised the minimum wage effective January 1st.
One of the Councillors asked why that amount was necessary and learned that the city has staff who are earning just the minimum wage.
 City Manager Tim Commisso City Manager added that it was people working part time, mostly students doing parks and recreation work or sprucing up the flower beds in the medians and working in the summer Parks and Recreation summer camp programs.
For a city that adds the phrasing “Burlington is a City where people, nature and businesses thrive” to every media release they put out the admission that people are paid that bare minimum has to be at least a little embarrassing.
There wasn’t a word from any member of council on ensuring that the city do better.
 Director of Human Resources Laura Boyd One can’t thrive on the current minimum wage; the new one ($15. an hour) won’t help much.
It was appropriate for both the City Manager Tim Commisso and the Director of Human Resources Laura Boyd to commit themselves to ensuring that the city would always be above the minimums before they were forced to be by the province.
We didn’t hear that last week.
By Pepper Parr
December 3rd, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Members of City Council met for two very full days and were expected to adjourn yesterday with a recommendation that would go to a Council meeting on the 14th at which the 2022 budget would be cast in stone.
It didn’t work out that way.
 Mayor Marianne Meed Ward during the 2022 budget debates. When the Standing committee recessed yesterday, Thursday, they were able to whittle the Staff proposed tax increase down from 5.45% to 4.95% which wasn’t what they Mayor had in mind.
Mayor Meed Ward wanted a lower number and she wanted council to agree on a number. The seven members of Councillors were not able to agree on that – worse they were not able to agree on what the recommendation would be.
In order for a recommendation to go to Council there had to be a majority of Councillors voting for it.
The four votes just weren’t there.
Council was stuck – unable to recommend a budget that Council could approve.
 Budget Chair Rory Nisan They figured out a way to recess the budget meeting and return on Thursday December 9th, hoping by that point they would have found the four votes needed to send a recommended budget to Council. At the close of the meeting – there were just three votes for sending a recommendation to Council.
In Burlington all the heavy debates take place at Standing Committees where they do not make decisions – they make recommendations which are sent to Council where the decision is made.
When things get messy at Standing Committee meetings they get procedural with amendments, points of order, points of personal privilege and challenges to the Chair.
In a follow up story we will tell what took place; what individual council members wanted and didn’t want and how the Mayor and the Chair of the budget committee wiggled and squirmed to get the result they wanted.
Rory Nisan, Ward 3 Councillor and Chair of the Budget explained his position: “As Chair of the Budget Committee I want to save the budget”.
Several members of Council didn’t think that was his job.
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