 By Pepper Parr
March 9th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Part 4 of a 4 part series
Last night there was a two hour Zoom event on the Housing Strategy your city council wants to put in place.
The city uses its Get Involved web site program to spread the word. If you know about that part of the city web site – you can keep up to date with what the city is doing in terms of projects.
 These are some of the people who took part in the Zoom event Monday evening. But that is not what this story is about. The city doesn’t do a particularly good job of promoting that site.
Mostly of the members of Council did very little directing people to the event.
The Gazette covered the event and will report back to you.
But that is not what this story is about.
The Housing Strategy is one part of what the Burlington Lands Project (BLP) is all about. Never heard of the Lands Project? That doesn’t surprise us. It too has been poorly promoted
There is a link at the bottom of this article telling you what we know about the Project.
A few weeks ago there was a bit of a scramble by members of Council to get a seat on the BLP Steering Committee, where much of the grunt work is expected to get done.
The final decision on any development will be made by city council. The concern was this – would every idea get taken to city council or only those that the Steering Committee felt had merit and were worth taking to council?
Council couldn’t decide who the members of the BLP Steering Committee would be several weeks ago – it was left with the City Manager and the City Solicitor to come back with some suggestions.
 City Manager Tim Commisso reported last week that he talked to everyone involved and was not able to arrive at a consensus as to who should be on that Steering Committee and suggested Council discuss it.
The feeling that came out of Council was that the Mayor should be there along with the Chair of the Standing Committee the Steering Committee would report to. WHICH ONE
That didn’t go down all that well with ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman who really wanted to be on that Steering Committee. Ward 4 Councillor Shawna Stolte, the strongest talker on the Affordable Housing file, had a passionate hunger to be on the Steering Committee and argued that given that she was going to be the incoming chair of the Standing Committee the Steering Committee would be reporting to – she too should be on the Steering Committee to give it a sense of continuity,
Sharman was not impressed with Stolte’s bonafides and basically trashed her.
 Commisso thought he might see every member of Council wanting to be on the Steering Committee – not something he was on for.
Here is how they settled it. None of the members of Council would be on the Steering Committee BUT every proposal and idea that came forward would be taken to council.
The Steering might rank their development preferences but Council would know everything that was discussed.
It will be interesting to see how that works out.
What you, the weary tax paying citizen can do is look in on the Zoom meeting this evening and give a listen and contribute your ideas on the affordable housing file.
The BLP is not just about housing – it wants to do more about getting more shovel ready sites in place for future job site.
The Economic Development people talk in terms of having 50 hectares of land shovel ready for development – there are less than 20 l hectares 0f shovel readyproperty at this point.
While there isn’t a lot of land left for employment sites – there are some sites that are zoned employment lands – the owners of those properties want to upgrade the zoning for residential.
Related news stories
The first we heard of the BLP
Just what is the Burlington Lands Project.
By Pepper Parr
March 9th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Fully understanding and utilizing the technology available to us is put into context when you understand what we had in the past to meet our needs.
The following illustration is instructive.
 By Pepper Parr
March 8th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
 Is the province listening? There was a great phrase I once saw many years ago on a button a woman was wearing.
It read: What part of No do you not understand?
That one stuck with me.
Today I am asking anyone who can respond: What part of the following do I not understand.
The province released updated Covid19 infection numbers – more than 1600 with ten new deaths.
On the same day we are told that Toronto and Peel have been moved to the grey zone and the malls will be opened – albeit at 25% of capacity and that they will be doing screening for everyone entering.
Did someone at the decision making level not understand the numbers? 1600 + – the highest since early February.
The virus is still hopping from person to person in the community. Clamp down until it is at the 100 a day and most of us are vaccinated.
By Pepper Parr
March 8th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
On this day – dedicated to celebrating the achievements of the women in the community – let’s look at what one member of city council has managed to achieve.
Lisa Kearns went back to school this year and by the end of the week she will be able to put the designation: ICD.D behind her name.
That designations states that she successfully completed the course at the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management.
 Lisa Kearns, Councillor for ward 2 – a wicked sense of humour and an ability to drop great one-line zingers. The classes were done virtually, which did not make them any easier. The certification is issued by the Institute of Corporate Directors – in the corporate world that counts.
Each class had about 40 people in it. Most were in what Kearns called the 40 years of age range, which probably says more about her age than she intended.
Those of you who follow Kearns will have been treated to her, at times, wicked sense of humour and her ability to drop great one-line zingers that she sometimes regrets saying – but she is who she is.
Her fellow students appear to have come to appreciate who she is – they made her the class valedictorian.
 Dangerous woman when she has a microphone in her hands. How does she do it? The woman is the Mother of two children, a city Councillor as well as a Regional Councillor, who is a Full Press Monty participant at every meeting.
Getting the designation was important to Kearns who clearly has higher political aspirations adding that she “paid for the course.” The courses are not cheap – think in terms of thousands – seven to be more precise.
Mayor Meed Ward is taking a similar course at McMaster. In a statement made by the Mayor at the time she said: her courses were paid for by a benefactor she did not choose to name.
One has to wonder how that went over during the ethics part of the McMaster program.
By Pepper Parr
March 7th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Week after week we report on the job the Burlington Food Bank is doing. A job they do with absolutely nothing in terms of funding from the City or the Region. It is the Region that is responsible for social welfare.
 The volunteers show up -day after day. The volunteers at the Food Bank toil away – day in day out.
The results for the past year are a little on the startling side.
Looking back at their numbers for February 2021 they served 1,400 households. In February of 2020 the Food Bank served 1000 households.
 Week after week – donors show up with a cheque or food. That is a 40% increase and it just cannot be sustainable.
Families needed the assistance for many reasons and the Food Bank was able to help because of incredible community support here in Burlington.
Robin Bailey, Executive Director said: “We understand that needing help isn’t something you choose to do, it’s often due to changes in circumstances. Sometimes you have to reach out for a little assistance and that’s why we’re here.”
 By Ray Rivers
March 6th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
“I’ll slash funding for English TV and CBC News Network, and end funding for digital news.”
(Erin O’Toole – Feb 14, 2020)
He said it plain – no love wasted for the national broadcaster, even on Valentine’s Day.
 Erin O’Toole – Defeated Andrew Scheer in the leadership contest – now he wants to form a government. There were issues which I really wanted Erin O’Toole to clarify for me when I set out to request our interview. First, O’Toole has promised that his climate change plan would deliver faster carbon emission reductions than Mr. Trudeau’s plan. And he would do it without the provision of a carbon tax, which would be relegated to the dustbin in an O’Toole government. And he’d do all this while pushing for more oil pipelines and oil.
So what and where is it – this magic plan? Well it’s still a secret. It’s still being developed. It probably has to stay that way, until he becomes PM, so the NDP don’t take credit for inventing it should the Liberals implement it. The mind boggles.
Another issue is Mr. O’Toole’s preoccupation with firearms. It’s true he spent a good part of his life in the military, but he ended up as a flight navigator. You’d think he’d know more about a compass than a gun, so perhaps this is just pistol envy. Still he has made this a major plank in his platform.
He points out that the biggest trouble with today’s gun control is the lack of public education about guns. And then in one breath he declares that Canada’s firearms control system actually works really well, and efficiently.
And then in the next breath says that his top priority would be to scrap the existing Firearms Act. And he’d cancel the requirement for vendors to keep a record of who purchased guns. And while he was at it he’d also kill the legislation the Liberals recently introduced banning assault rifles, high capacity ammunition magazines and silencers.
 Leader of the Opposition Erin O’Toole figuring it out That would mean potentially allowing powerful military-type weapons systems including the M16, AR-10, AR-15 and M4 firearms, onto our streets, or at least our gun cupboards. He has received an A grading by the lobbyist outfit CCFR (Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights).
O’Toole has gone after the Trudeau government for not doing more to stop the smuggling of firearms across the US border. And he may have the answer. Just make these weapons legal here as well, and smuggling would be unnecessary.
A third of his Tory membership are COVID action deniers. Or at least they want the governments to stop restricting economic activity and get back to normal, whatever that can be when this epidemic is killing our senior citizens and threatening to spread like wildfire. For example, Flamborough Glanbrook MP David Sweet, having himself come back, quilt-free, from a foreign vacation, says let it rip.
O”Toole himself is ignoring this growing chorus of voices around him who are telling him to be like Texas. You have to die from something anyway, right? But it does take a lot of courage to go after Trudeau for not doing enough to keep the virus out, when a sizeable chunk of his membership is saying let it be.
 It was the R. B. Bennet, a Conservative government that formed the CBC Finally what is it with O’Toole’s promise to defund the CBC? It is a little difficult to appreciate why the federal Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) has such a long standing animosity against Canada’s national broadcaster. After all, the CBC was a service originally initiated back in 1932 by R.B. Bennet, a conservative PM.
One might think the Tories object to the cost of the annual subsidy paid to the CBC, some $1.2 billion a year. But a sizeable subsidy is annually paid out to the other Canadian broadcasters, private though they are. And if it’s about the cost, why squash the English television and digital news services, ironically the only part of the corporation which brings in advertising dollars? It may actually cost more to kill the CBC than to keep it intact.
 CBC – the country’s most trusted news source. No question the other networks wouldn’t mind seeing the CBC gone. It’s still competition, even though they already have a much greater audience. But the CBC/Radio Canada is the most trusted news media in the country. And we are in the midst of a brave new world of fake news. One only needs to look south of the border and the role fake news played in the assault on the US Capitol.
In fact over 80% of Canadians support our national broadcaster and want to see the CBC continue and even expand its broadcasting agenda. So why would someone running for prime minister want to unstick the glue that in many ways keeps us all together, including our remote indigenous population and Francophone Canada.
 Erin O’Toole – knows how to fight back. We do know that this contempt the Tories harbour for the national broadcaster goes back to the troubled relationship Mr Harper had with the media, and the CBC in particular. He even tried to set up his own news system and in the end the party turned to the right wing extremist paper, The Rebel. In fact a former director of the Rebel ended up running Andrew Scheer’s campaign.
Erin O’Toole, after being criticized for his party’s association with The Rebel, swore off giving any more interviews to that right wing rag. He must have sworn off the Burlington Gazette as well, because he and his office ignored my requests for an interview. I got an immediate automatic email thanking me for contacting him, both times, but then it was crickets. So we didn’t really have a discussion, but I’m still waiting for that phone to ring.
Ray Rivers writes weekly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was a candidate for provincial office in Burlington where he ran against Cam Jackson in 1995, the year Mike Harris and the Common Sense Revolution swept the province.
Background links:
Let the Pandemic Roll – David Sweet – Recovery Plans –
Trust in the Media – Polling – Anti-Choice –
The Rebel – Climate Plan – CCFR –
O’Toole on Guns – CBC – CBC Public Support –
 By Staff
March 5th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Correction: The figure of $281,481.62 should have been $28,481.62
The City has been ordered to pay costs in the amount of $17,088.97 plus interest, to the Applicant/Appellant, which in this case is National Homes, who are in the process of developing the property at 2100 Brant that will, upon completion, be a 233 town house development.
 The site used to be a hay field. The developer has named the property Tyandaga Heights The city got hit because way back in 2017 National Homes made an application for amendments to both the Official Plan and the zoning on the property.
Marianne Meed Ward, who was then the Council member for Ward 2, voted against the National Homes development.
National Homes took the city to LPAT (Local Planning Act Tribunal) for failing to make a decision within the required time frame.
They eventually resolved their differences at Pre-Hearing Conferences and signed Minutes of Settlement on November 20, 2018.
In October citizens had chosen a new Mayor and a significantly different Council – with just the one hold-over from the previous Council.
The inaugural meeting for the new City Council, with Meed Ward as Mayor, took place on December 4, 2018.
On December 17, 2018, the new Council held an in-camera meeting and decided to back out of the Minutes of Settlement.
We now know that the city decided to resile (which is lawyer speak for abandoning a position or a course of action) in that CLOSED meeting.
The National Homes people were ticked off and asked LPAT to award them costs of $28,481.62. They got $17,088.97.
That CLOSED meeting must have been a doozy – five of the seven people were brand new Councillors with precious little experience in matters like this. Meed Ward knew what she was doing, Councillor Sharman would have been opposed – for the others – they may have left the room scratching their heads.
Several days before they had gone along with the Mayor on the firing of James Ridge, the then city manager. Ridge certainly knew what was coming: days before he had told colleagues that if Meed Ward was elected he was toast.
The surprising part of that was – anyone who knew how to read tea leaves would have known that Meed Ward was what the public wanted.
Not as many feel the same way today.
By Pepper Parr
March 5th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
It started out with;
Direct the Chief Financial Officer to implement a 2021 COVID-19 property tax deferral pre-authorized payment plan (by application) and report on the status as part of the ongoing monthly financial COVID-19 updates
Council approved property tax relief measures in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The assistance included extended property tax due dates, waived penalty and interest on outstanding property tax from April to August 31 and a pre-authorized payment plan to pay remaining 2020 taxes between the months of August and December 2020.
Most taxpayers continued to pay on time, while some had difficulties.
Provincial and Federal governments continue to provide residents and businesses financial assistance programs relating to COVID-19.
The Ontario government declared a Provincial COVID-19 state of emergency January 12, 2021 effective January 14, 2021, ending on February 14, 2021. The current Provincial and Public Health measures may produce a continued financial hardship for some Burlington residents and business in 2021.
Here is what Council decided to do.
 They created an application-based deferral program consisting of pre-authorized monthly withdrawals to defer payment from our regularly scheduled due dates. It would apply to all property classes (residential and non-residential) to be fair and equitable.
Balance can include any unpaid installments from March 1, 2020 and all of 2021 taxes
Taxes will be paid in full by December 1, 2021
Penalty/interest will be suspended for the duration of the deferral
Withdrawal start date chosen by the property owner.
Financial impact to the city is dependent on the number of applications and total tax payments deferred. It amounts to a shift in cash flow of property tax revenues to later in the year. The city will not collect penalty/interest revenue for months that taxes are deferred.
Taxes levied on behalf of the Region and school boards would still be paid on the normal schedule.
Eligibility criteria
 Property taxes must be current prior to the pandemic (March 1, 2020)2
Property owners would need to attest that they are experiencing financial hardship directly related to COVID-19
The expectation is that property owners with tenants should be passing on the deferral arrangement.
By Pepper Parr
March 5th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
One last look at Councillor salaries.
In an earlier report we gave data on the city side of the pay package.
The complete pay package for the seven members of Council who are also Regional Councillors is set out below.
Set out below is the full remuneration along with an explanation as to why Councillors Sharman and Bentivegna get less than the others.
Both are over 65. The reduction is due to benefits dropping off at 65, to which Councillor Sharman asks:
” is that fair?”
To be fair, this Council has worked hard. There are times when they put in twelve hours days in back-to-back in public sessions and then have to get to their desks and catch up on the paper work.
This is not a cushy job.
 These were the swearing-in-night smiles
 By Staff
March 4th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
City hall is going to get a new look – you won’t recognize the ground floor when they are finished.
Take the 33 second flyby to see what the end result is expected to look like – there will of course be changes to the design concept.
Members of Council who saw the details this morning loved the idea.
There is a lot more work to be done – but the plan is to get started late this summer or in the fall and get the work done in phases.
The phrase ‘One Window’ was applied to the plans – but there are actually two windows – one for what is now Customer Service and the other is for Development. They aren’t windows but the place you go for services; pay parking tickets, get a document commissioned, apply for a marriage license.
The idea is to make the space much more customer friendly.
The plan is to have little pods – places where people can sit and talk; there will be small meetings rooms.
The public will not get much beyond the ground floor – staff will come to you on the ground floor.
 This is a rendering of what is being thought through. The building is badly in need of an upgrade. The last renovation was in 1985 – when, as Alan Magi explained, “we were using carbon paper and there was no such things as a fax machine, never mind the internet.
Jennifer Johnson is part of the design team – she did some very good work in ward 3 at the Brant Hills sports complex where wood surfaces gave the facility a warm feeling. The early view of city hall ground floor does not appear to have that soft, comfortable look – but this is just the early stage,
The traffic flow will be very different with the open area showing the lower level covered in part by a bridge.
The focus appears to be more digital – a modern, swift look.
There was a time when former ward 6 Councillor Blair Lancaster thought there should be a coffee shop on the ground floor. There once was a coffee shop on the Council Chamber level but it was never used – or at least not used enough for the people who operated the space gave it up.
 There will be a new Locust Street entrance, a new “grand entrance” that will come in off Civic Square. The development window will be on the left and the Service Burlington window on the right The building is never going to be a net zero carbon site – the building is far to old.
There has been zip community engagement to this point. We heard the usual – there will be an engagement plan but no detail. It looks as if this is going to be a done deal with a ribbon cutting the day the “grands entrance” is officially used for the first time.
Councillor Sharman said that his impression of City Hall when he walked in for the first time in 2010 was that of a WWII building.
He added that the city will upgrade what they have until it is clear the building has reached the end of its life cycle. “We aren’t going to look into spending $50 million on a new city hall.
Right now 28% of the ground floor space is for public use while 72% of the space is for staff. That will shift to a 50 – 50 share when the upgrade is completed.
There will be several phases.
Phase 1 will be the work done on the development services area and the Citizen services area.
 Phase 2  Phase 3
By Pepper Parr
March 4th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
With the vaccination registration system created by the Regional Public Health Unit up and running very efficiently -many have registered and know when they are going to get their first dose AND their second dose; every one now waits for the vaccine to actually arrive.
 This is what we are being protected against – a virus that has challenged the scientists. A tremendous amount of work has gone into getting us to where we are – and this is just the beginning.
Burlington released data yesterday on how the roll out is expected to take place.
The graph below is small and not that easy to read – we pass along what we get – you can now determine what the plan is and where you fit in.
Following the simple rules and exercising some patience will get us all to the point where we are vaccinated and moving along to some state of normalcy.
Pandemics are a little like the Maple Leafs winning the Stanley Cup – these things don’t happen very often and you don’t fully appreciate what has taken place until it is over.
 This is the status of the vaccination roll out for Burlington as of March 3rd.
 By Pepper Parr
March 3rd, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
It is easy to complain. However, when the job is well done the people who did the job have to be recognized.
And this morning the Gazette wants to recognize the superb job the Public Health unit in Halton has done with the COVID vaccine registration procedure they put in place and opened up this morning.
 Dr Hamidah Meghani decided no to rely on the province and went ahead and created a vaccination registration program for Halton. She made the right decision. It works. It works. It is a little complex and some people may need some help if they are not computer literate.
Make sure you have your OHIP card – they need that number.
You get to choose the date you want – if that date is full they will give you the closest date they have. You get to choose the time you want.
You can choose any one of the four locations in the Region.
Read the questions they ask carefully. If you get something wrong – they point out where you made the mistake and you get to correct it.
When you’re done – you print it out. The document you print gives you the date you are to attend and the date for the second shot.
It works.
Thank the people at the Region for a job well done. The province is still working on a registration system. Halton decided that the province might be late so went ahead and created their own.
I’ll let you know how my jab in the arm goes when it is my turn.
Again, a job well done folks.
By Pepper Parr
March 3rd, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
After a marathon Statutory meeting that had 58 plus delegations who wanted to be heard, Council will be back at the table for a meeting that will include the setting of the tax rate for 2021.
Health, Safety and Well Being are on the agenda. Staff at city hall were surveyed.
One graph tells just how things are going.
By Staff
March 3rd, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
The online booking system for residents over 80 to book an appointment for a vaccine shot launches today.
To make your appointment click HERE. Read the instructions they give you carefully. Read the balance of this article before you go to register. The link to register is also at the bottom of this article.
Starting Wednesday March 3, Halton residents who are 80 years of age and older can book their appointment to receive their COVID-19 vaccine at a Halton Region COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic.
To support residents 80 years of age and older who require transportation, Halton Region has been working with Specialized Local Municipal Transit service providers and Private Transportation (taxi) services to ensure residents can conveniently request and arrange free transportation to and from Regional clinics if required.
“Vaccinating those most at risk of complications from COVID-19 is critical,” said Dr. Hamidah Meghani, Halton Region’s Medical Officer of Health. “If you know someone who is 80 years of age or older and may need assistance accessing information or booking their online appointment, please reach out to them to assist. While we continue to vaccinate priority groups, I am urging everyone to keep staying home except for essential purposes, avoiding social gatherings and preparing to be vaccinated when it is your turn.”
Residents who are not currently 80 years of age and older, please do not call 311 or visit the online booking system to ensure eligible residents have access.
Appointments will be available for clinic sites in the City of Burlington, Town of Oakville, Town of Milton and Town of Halton Hills. Free transportation options will be available for all eligible residents if required. Halton’s Vaccination Clinics are not open to the public and are available by appointment only.
There will be no walk-in appointments.
To make your appointment click HERE. Follow the instructions
By Staff
March 2nd, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Burlington is joining the rest of the Region and communities in close proximity – they are getting rid of the need to get permission to hold a tag day.
 Organizations will still be able to hold tag days – they just won’t need permission from the city to do so.
They will have to get permission from the property owners –ie, LCBO and Supermarket locations, which tend to have the kind of traffic that makes the tag day successful
The volume of Tag Day requests has significantly declined over the last few years.
In 2020, the City of Burlington issued 15 letters of permission; compared to 33 letters of permission in 2019 and 33 in 2018. Historically the numbers have been higher:
2017: 39
2014: 49
2012:111
 In 2013, a similar report recommending discontinuation of the tag day program was provided to Council and they chose not to discontinue the program at that time. If a decision is made to discontinue, the Licensing section would advise charities that moving forward in 2021, Tag Days would now be managed strictly by the property and business owners.
This goes to City Council where it will be approved – from that day forward (allow 20 days for people to file objections) and all the taggers have to do is get permission from the locations.
By Pepper Parr
March 2, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Does anyone know why this is happening?
 The site once had a gas station on it; it is believed that the Tim Horton’s people were looking at the site as a head office – that didn’t fly. Are there plans for something on the property – other than expanding Emma’s – what else could they do with it?
In the lot to the immediate east of Emma’s, which is still closed and available if you want to rent the space, there is a bulldozer pushing huge boulders over the edge.
It would appear that the shore line is being protected from any erosion.
The Conservation authority has jurisdiction over this site.
Does anyone know why the concern over possible erosion?
By Pepper Parr
March 2, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Last week we did a piece on some research the MoH for Halton Region mentioned to members of Regional Council which she said at the time she found very startling and concerned that if the data was correct and the situation we are in was mis-handled a third wave was a possibility.
And that that third wave would not be like the first and second wave; it would spread more quickly and more people would succumb to the virus.
We did a short piece with a graph that set out what Dr Hamidah Meghani was talking about. In this article we are able to show you some of the supporting evidence . It is chilling.
The data does not mean anything is going to happen, it does, we believe, point to what could happen if we are not very careful.
 The supermarkets are doing everything they can to educate the public. Wear the mask – keep your distance. It does make a difference. Reference is made to three COVID-19 VOC have been identified, including:
PANGO lineage B.1.1.7: first detected in the United Kingdom in September, 2020;
PANGO lineage B.1.351: first detected in South Africa in October, 2020; and
PANGO lineage P.1: first detected in Brazil in January, 2021.
As of February 15, 2021, Ontario has confirmed a total of 319 COVID-19 variant of concern (VOC) cases; the vast majority (96.9%; 309/319) are PANGO lineage B.1.1.7.
COVID-19 VOC cases have been confirmed in 15/34 (44.1%) public health units across 6/7 (85.7%) geographic regions (i.e., no VOC cases have been identified in the North West region).
The Central East region accounts for 80.3% (256/319) of COVID-19 VOC cases in the province, in part due to a large outbreak in a long-term care home in Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit.
The majority (81.2%; 259/319) of confirmed VOC cases are linked to outbreaks or close contact with a confirmed case.
A total of 38 fatalities have been reported (case fatality: 11.9%); all have occurred among those 60 years of age or older.
 Where did the person with the new virus pick it up? Close contacts and an outbreak. How do we combat that?
 Number of confirmed COVID-19 VOC cases by PANGO lineage, severity, and outcome: Ontario, December 1, 2020 to February 15, 2021(We believe the word EVER should have been Never)
 Number of fatalities among confirmed COVID-19 VOC cases by PANGO lineage and age group: Ontario, December 1, 2020 to February 15, 2021. It is the older people who are dying.
 Number of confirmed COVID-19 VOC cases by PANGO lineage and likely source of acquisition: Ontario, December 1, 2020 to February 15, 2021 This data has determined what the province decided to do and what is continuing to do. Take care of the elderly and when the vaccine arrive inoculate the older people and hope that we can get enough people inoculated before the variants work themselves into the general population.
It is truly a race against time.
We may have wasted much of what we had.
Related article
The MoH was startled.
By Staff
February 26th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
 Mayor Marianne Meed Ward – budget needs more work In her most recent newsletter Mayor Marianne Meed Ward reported that “Council is in the final stages of 2021 budget discussions and is currently sitting at a proposed increase of 4.14%.
“City of Burlington staff and Council all worked very hard to find ways to reduce the impact while still delivering on direct services to residents.
“We shaved approximately $1.49 million off the initial proposed operating budget while adding resources for tree preservation, extending the seniors free transit pilot, additional planning staff and more.
“That said, delivering the highest tax increase of our Council term thus far is not my goal for our community, particularly amidst a pandemic where people are still struggling. We received millions in funding from our upper levels of government over the past year and have been presented with reasonable and thoughtful options for reductions that were brought forward by our City staff. The divided vote yesterday at committee was 4 members of Council in support, and 3 opposed, myself included.
“The recommendations for the proposed 2021 operating budget head to a virtual special council meeting on March 3 for a final vote. With just a little bit more work and discussion, I’m hoping Council can come together to close the gap for a lower tax increase closer to 3.99% and deliver a budget that most, if not all, of us on Council and in the community can support.
By Staff
February 26th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
That light at the end of the tunnel may not be a train rushing towards us.
 The good folks at the Joseph Brant Museum announced they are re-opening with a limited schedule (Tuesday – Friday from 10:00am – 3:00pm) beginning Tuesday, March 2.
Currently on view are the Burlington Gallery and the Costume Gallery.
Admission rates are 50% off the regular rate until April 9. You’ll also enjoy 20% off all items in the gift shop. Masks are mandatory.
The Children’s Discovery Gallery remains closed due to COVID-19. Our next special exhibition in the Showcase Gallery will open later this spring, details to be announced.
 That cigarette wouldn’t be at a gathering these days. The Brant Inn virtual event that takes place March 12th still has room for anyone interested in what looks like a great event. The Gazette is seeing impressive interest in this event on its comments section. One reader wrote in to tell us about his experiences as a young man.
Another reader said: “One individual I know paid his way through university back in the 1950’s by selling “mickey bottles” out of the trunk of his car–just imagine, the Brant Inn didn’t have a liquor license!
Elizabeth Hamidbasha recounts her experience writing: “I remember it well! It was a great place. The 1950 Miss Canada pageant was held there. Interviews from CHML were part of every Saturday night programming. When summer came along and you couldn’t afford a ticket, you sat on the railroad tracks and just listened.
“For lots of people it was free Saturday night entertainment and just as good as being a paying guest. One time Audrey Hepburn had lunch there without being recognized. She had just made Roman Holiday and was visiting here with her fiance’, James Hanson- now Sir James Hanson. Hanson owned Hanson Transport, based in London, England, and he had established a company in Hamilton. He was visiting Harold White, manager of the Canadian office, and had brought along his fiance. While the men were having a business meeting Elsie White- Harold’s wife- took Audrey for lunch at the Brant Inn.
“Imagine – nobody recognized her! But, it was early in her career and who would have expected Audrey Hepburn to be in Burlington, Ontario!!”
By Pepper Parr
February 26th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Just over a week ago when Dr. Hamidah Meghani was speaking to the Regional Council she mentioned data she had seen very recently that she found startling and under the wrong situation could lead to a third wave of infections.
We touched base with the Region’s media support people where Julia Le is usually very good at digging out material for us.
Dr Hamidah Meghani was talking about what are referred to as VOC – Variants of Concern – these are COVID19 mutations that appear to spread very quickly and impact those pov60 and over – for the 80 and over they have a very high morbidity rate.
The 20 page report has numerous graphs – the one sums it all up, and we suspect the one that keeps Dr Meghani awake at night is below.
If the mutation were to get out and into a population – no one has been able to even guess at the damage that would be done and the lives lost. This information is one of the reasons the Mayor of the City of Toronto has said – no large public events until after Canada Day. No Pride Parade – nothing where large numbers of people would be gathered in an outdoor setting.
The graphics that accompanied the Epidemiological Summary spell out the real concern and what has the health community rushing to get people vaccinated. It is a race against time – and we are not ready.
This Epidemiological Summary covers Variants of Concern in Ontario: December 1, 2020 to February 15, 2021
The Gazette will do a follow up piece on this.
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