 By Staff
December 5, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
Sunday – starts at 2:00 pm and winds its way down Guelph Line – starting at Prospect and ending up at city hall – the Ho, Ho, Ho man himself. Santa will be at the end of the parade waving away.
 NEW! Vote online for your favorite float. The 2014 People’s Choice Award voting will begin on December 7, 2014. (Link to vote on line wasn’t available at time of publication – when it is available we will pass it along,)
 Mayor Goldring always shows up; this time he was collecting for the Old Timer’s Hockey Team Last year the People’s Choice Award Winner was Keller Williams Edge Realty.
Hosted by the City of Burlington, the 49th annual Christmas Parade features entries including bands, colourful floats, clowns and mascots; paid for out of the float fees the city charges.
Kids will line streets; many of the same community groups will be in the parade. Some of the residents on streets that butt into New Street park vehicles at the intersection and have hot chocolate – we saw a hibachi lat year,
 The hustle and bustle of the malls can never dull the real message – it is always the same. That’s the way it is supposed to be. 
 By James Smith
December 3, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
All the other kids wore the Rouge, Bleu, Blanc with nombre neuf. We were Anglos but like Roch Carrier’s book, all wanted to be The Rocket. That is all except me, I wanted to be like my dad’s friend, number four, Jean Beliveau. So on the outdoor rink I was number four.
My dad was a DJ in Montreal, and also did the colour commentary for, I think it was radio station CJAD, hockey, football, and the races at Blue Bonnets race track. Dad was always having us meet stars of one kind or another, and as a kid this really didn’t register.
 Always at the front of the game; always playing the puck; Jean Beliveau at his best. That is except for hockey players. Hockey was different, hockey for me, like from most boys at the time, was what we lived for and I was so very lucky to meet most of the greats of the Hab’s dynasty of the late 50’s & early 60’s. The Rocket, the Pocket Rocket, Claud Prenevost, Boom-Boom Geoffrion, but Mr Beliveau was different, he and my dad were friends.
Several Sunday afternoons I got to go with my dad to the Forum, walk to the rafters into the gondola to watch a game. As a kid this was both terrifying and exciting being so high, watching the game, seeing my dad work on the radio and feeling part of the big people’s world. At the end of the game we’d go to the dressing room, my dad would do an interview or two,
 He would come out of the curve in the rink with more than enough speed to overtake almost every hockey player in the league. I’d get to meet my idols, shake their hands, and learn a new word or two in French. Not sure why but “peut-etre” seems to be the one I remember my dad using a lot. We would never leave without my dad and Mr Beliveau having a conversation, they always had a schtick they would do; he was Jean my day was Gene. Mr Beliveau would greet dad with a smile and “Hello Jean!” and my dad would reply “Bonjour Gene!”. They were both big men, and would shake hands an exchange a laugh, and as a little kid, I would look up in awe. My dad was friends with Jean Beliveau!
I do remember an exchange happing one time shopping in downtown Montreal with my parents. We ran into Mr Beliveau and people paused to look as the two men exchanged a few words. I shook Mr Beliveau’s hand while enquiring “comment allez vous?” Mr Beliveau then remarked about my red white and blue toque.
With my tiny bit of childhood French I informed the captain of the Montreal Canadiens it was a REAL Canadiens “chapeau rouge avec pom-pom bleu”. A little taken back he got a big grin and started to laugh and patted me on the shoulder, said a few more words to my parents, then bid us good-bye.
 Jean Beliveau at 80 – still the captain Today with Mr Beliveau’s passing, I will remember Mr Beliveau a giant of a man, who had time for a little kid, and as a friend of my late father who towered over me on the streets of downtown Montreal, laughing.
 By Staff
December 2, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Watch sculpting master Michael Muli use various techniques to transform ice into art at the Royal Botanical Gardens.
 A master ice sculptor will be at the Royal Botanical Gardens December 6thand 7th. No to be missed. Michael is creating an enormous 3D tribute to the RBG Train Show for kids to climb aboard. You can drop by and get your picture taken with the kids.
Be sure to stop by and get your photo taken with the final piece before it disappears!
Event takes place from December 6 (1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.); December 7 (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
 By Pepper Parr
December 1, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
 Sign at the western gateway to the city. With the chain of office officially his for the next four years Mayor Rick Golding can settle in and make Burlington a better place.
One of the first things that he did as Mayor for the 2014-18 term was get his picture taken in front of spanking new sign telling traveler’s they are about to enter the village of Aldershot.
Later today the Mayor will give his Inaugural address and possibly even give us a peek at his thinking for the next four years.
 The guy on the left, Mayor Goldring, invited the guy on the right, Ron Foxcroft, to give the keynote speech at the guy on the right’s Inaugural event. The guy on the right is funnier than the guy on the left. Mayor Goldring managed to let himself get upstaged by Ron Foxcroft who will deliver the Keynote address – there will be at least one joke at the Mayor’s expense.
On Thursday the Mayor will glad hand with those invited to a fund raiser to pay off his election campaign debt. Goldring fully expected the 2014 election to be a cake walk; there wasn’t a challenger on the horizon other than Anne Marsden who has run frequently in the past.
Council will begin to take care of business on the 15th when the Standing Committees meet.
Goldring had a campaign team which amounted to a collection of names; no one expected to have to do anything. Then out of the blue came Peter Rusin who did very poorly in the vote count but did manage to keep the Mayor on his toes for a couple of weeks.
Fund raising for Mayoral races usually gets done well before the election. If funds have to be raised after the election it is usually because there was a very hard fought race. That certainly wasn’t the case this time around – did the Mayor get caught flat footed on this one?
Expect anyone who thinks they can curry a little favour with the Mayor to happily accept an invitation to this event. The Gazette wasn’t invited.
By Pepper Parr
December 1, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
The Art Gallery of Burlington is proud of its rich tradition in hosting an annual, live art auction. The event is a critical fund raiser for the AGB which sees itself as the heart of arts and culture in the region.
With an inspiring variety of exhibitions, education programs and an acclaimed Canadian contemporary ceramics collection, it is vital that AGB raise funds to continue to offer enriching programs to our community and keep the galleries free and accessible to all, seven days a week. Thus the art sale.
The next will be their 36th year and will be grown into a week-long celebration of visual art with local, regional and national artists.
It all begins May 31st and runs through to – June 6th, 2015. Mark those dates on your calendar.
 The Belle Epoch was a time of new ideas, emerging artists and rife with political controversy. There was a World’s Fair held in Paris – the world was alive with new wealth and ideas – it all ended with the start of the First Great War This week-long celebration features: an Art Sale; a live auction as well as a Silent Auction. This year there is going to be a theme to set a tone. The AGB people are stretching their wings and actually getting creative. They have chosen La Belle Époque as the theme, which we are told came out of the creative mind of Cheryl Goldring, chair of the Planning committee and an artist with a reputation of her own
Belle Époque was a period characterized by optimism, peace at home and in Europe, new technology and scientific discoveries. The peace and prosperity in Paris allowed the arts to flourish, and many masterpieces of literature, music, theater, and visual art gained recognition. The Belle Époque was named, in retrospect, when it began to be considered a “golden age” in contrast to the horrors of World War I.
 For a citizen of France to accuse the President of the Republic in a newspaper front page letter was unheard of – those were heady times. The Art Gallery of Burlington wants to re-create some of that era with a theme for the 2015 Art Auction. In the newly rich United States, emerging from the Panic of 1873, the comparable epoch was dubbed the Gilded Age. In the United Kingdom, the Belle Époque overlapped with the late Victorian era and the Edwardian era. In Germany, the Belle Époque coincided with the reigns of Kaiser Wilhelm I & II and in Russia with the reigns of Alexander III and Nicholas II.
All that rich history will be wrapped into a theme that will set a tone considerable different than previous art auctions. The city can perhaps attend an event that has the potential to get away from the stodginess that has at times crept into AGB events. Looks like they are going to zip it up a bit.
There is also going to be a 200 for $200 event; 200 painting priced at $200 each. That should appeal to the younger set that wants to begin collecting seriously.
The Planning committee wants the public to party like it’s 1889 when the world celebrated the opening of the World’s Fair in Paris and the coming of age of Impressionism. That might be a bit of a stretch – after all this is Burlington.
The Art Gallery of Burlington will be transformed into a Parisian market as guests are immersed in late 19th Century Paris with all the exciting sights and sounds of that vibrant era; art, music, jugglers, dancers, cafes, bistros and marketplaces.
The committee planning this event includes: Cheryl Goldring, Chair, Susan Busby, Anne Brownell, AGB, Catherine Brady, Cheryl Soderlund, AGB, Louise Cooke, Kim Varian, AGB and Don Graves.
Submission packages for artists can be downloaded here.
 By Pepper Parr
November 30th, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
It won’t be the cowboy hat and the blue jeans Monday evening for Haley Verrall, the Nelson High student, who will take to the stage and lead the people at the Performing Arts Centre in the singing of O’Canada as they witness the Swearing In of the new city council.
Hayley is a young, 17, Burlingtonian who is fashioning a career as a singer song-writer who wants to change the world with words and music.
She took part in the city’s culture week and was recognized by Angela Pap Paparizo at city hall and then got a call from the Mayor’s office asking if she would be interested in singing the national anthem for the Swearing In.
Both Hayley and her Mom Kim couldn’t say yes fast enough. The question then was – “Do I have to wear a dress” asked Hayley.
 Hayley Verrall at the keyboard. She will sing the national anthem at the Performing arts Centre during swearing-in of new city council. The budding artist has six songs written, a CD with her picture on the cover and more lyrics in the works. Her preference is country and western – with bluegrass where her heart really lies at this point in her career.
Hayley plays piano, trumpet, ukulele, banjo and guitar – you know which the favourite is as she slides the guitar strap over her should and adjusts the instrument to her body and strokes the strings.
Hayley plays around town wherever she can get herself in front of a microphone in Burlington. She has a spot in Waterdown that makes her welcome as well.
 The guitar is her instrument of choice. Hayley Verrall singing “Follow Your Dreams”. Besides being a musician, Hayley is a gamer. She thinks university is in her future with McMaster or Western as the destination for her. Teaching music is something she thinks she could do quite well – but the long term career isn’t the real focus for Hayley. Right now it is writing some and playing wherever she can find people who want to listen
Her Mom, Kim gets a credit as the co-writer for several of the songs written so far. Described as a musician with influences as diverse as country, rock and pop Hayley has been written up as “a versatile performer who blends her instinctive attitude for fresh melodies with a consistent background as a skilled classical pianist.”
Music for Hayley is more than simple entertainment; it is a medium to inspire, share and tell stories that can relate to an audience in a unique way.
We won’t get to hear the true love music on Monday – not unless Hayley rolls from the national anthem to “Young Gambler”, a featured piece on her CD titled: You Ain’t seen Trouble Yet.
By Staff
November 29, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
If you haven’t got your weekend plans worked out and you are looking for something different to do with the kids – what do you think about Synchronized Swimming ?
The Burlington Synchronized Swimming Club (BSSC) invites families and friends to join us for a FREE family swim as part of the Burlington Sports Festival. Celebrate the power of sport that builds strong communities and get active with BSSC!
 Join the Synchronized Swimming Club at the Centennial pool to learn more about synchronized swimming and try some of the moves. Did you know that synchronized swimming is a hybrid form of swimming, dance and gymnastics, consisting of swimmers performing a synchronized routine of elaborate moves in the water, accompanied by music?
Join us to learn more about synchronized swimming and try some of the moves.
SATURDAY, November 29, 2014 from 3:00 – 4:30 P.M. at the Centennial Pool, 5151 New Street,
Have fun with a FREE family swim that includes a “try it” session offered by BSSC
 By Pepper Parr
November 28, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
Many a political career has been started with a citizen serving on a city board or committee.
There are hundreds of people as well who have served on a board and found immense satisfaction in being able to make a difference.
Burlington citizen advisory committees provide Council and staff with input about a wide variety of subjects through discussions, presentations and recommendations. Some committees also organize and participate in community events.
Burlington welcomes citizens who represent the diverse backgrounds of the community to participate on these committees. Becoming a member offers residents a unique chance to volunteer their highly valued skills and to strengthen our shared sense of community.
One of the key groups is the Burlington’s BEST Awards Committee. It is made up of 10 voting members, including: six citizens from the community, and four representatives from media and information agencies.
 The committee was established in and is seen as a Planning Committee reporting to City Council through the Community Services Committee.
Their mandate is to recognize citizens of Burlington who have brought favourable publicity and honour to the City of Burlington, to increase awareness of the committee so all citizens of Burlington have the chance to be recognized for their achievements.
The recognition is provided through Burlington’s Best Awards an annual event at which Burlington recognizes the Citizen of the Year; a Junior Citizen of the Year; an Arts Person of the Year, and a Seniors Person of the Year;. The city also gives a Community Service Award, an Environmental Award and a Heritage Award.
These awards are important – but there is a problem. In 2014 the nominations or recommendations did not come from the Planning committee – their task was to vote on the nominations they had before them.
Those nominations came from anyone who wanted to send in a nomination. The result was we had wives nominating husbands, Mothers nominating their children and girlfriends nominating their boyfriends, which, while admirable, is surely not Burlington’s definition of the BEST we have?
In the next few weeks the Clerks department will go through the applications for people who would like to be on the Planning Committee. Let us hope that the committee that chooses the people who will vote for the BEST that Burlington has are people who get to vote on merit.
There are some people in this city who have in the past year served us exceptionally well. They deserve to be recognized for what they have done – not for who they are or what their Mother, Father, husband, wife or girlfriend thinks of them.
Friends and family should be applauding the choice the committee makes – they shouldn’t be sending in nominations – nor should the committee be accepting them.
 By Staff
November 28, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
It’s not quite Christmas without taking in a performance of The Nutcracker,
There will be four runs of Tchaikovsky`s renowned ballet at the Performing Arts Centre December 18th, 19th and 20th.
 The Canadian Ballet Youth Ensemble (CBYE) will be presenting their critically acclaimed production of The Nutcracker featuring the world renowned National Ballet of Cuba.
The CBYE has been bringing arts and culture to the local community since 1991 by collaborating creatively alongside the National Ballet of Cuba in addition to hosting and producing countless shows with a wide range of Canada’s most captivating dancers.
Under the direction of Hamilton Arts and Entertainment Ambassador Ms. Gurdil-Diamante, The Nutcracker features the National Ballet of Cuba’s finest dancers accompanied by an ensemble of talented children from Hamilton and Burlington. The Nutcracker is the perfect ballet experience to delight both first-time attendees and life-long lovers of the art; a cherished seasonal classic for young and old alike.
 Gary Smith, Theatre and Dance Critic for the Hamilton Spectator said “It’s the most authentic, most moving, most spirited Nutcracker there is. It’s filled with the joy and love of Alicia Alonso’s thrilling choreography and Tchaikovsky’s music. Best of all it’s performed with the passion and heart only these Cuban dancers can bring to ballet.”,
Dates for this limited run are:
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Opening Night Performance: 7:30 pm
Friday December 19, 2014
Evening Performance: 7:30pm
Saturday December 20, 2014
Matinee Performance: 2:00 pm
Final Performance: 7:30 pm
VIP tickets, which include a meet and greet with the award-winning dancers and the best seats in the house are available for each evening performance.
Click here for the Box office or call 905-681-6000
By Pepper Parr
November 27, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
They are the backbone of the community.
There are all kinds of men’s clubs and organizations but they don’t have a hope when they have to go up against a church’s woman’s group.
 The red Flood Relief T-shirts were evident. The Woman’s Group at St. Stephen’s United Church seem to be just that much feistier than many this reporter has met with.
They turned over a cheque for $1,263.80 and broke into applause when Laura Pizzacalla of th3e Burlington Community Foundation told them that the money they raised would be matched by the province on a two for one basis to arrive at total of $3791.40
The women of St. Stephen held a pot luck “breakfast for dinner” that had a $5 ticket price. They apparently had no problems with getting creative about just what a “pot luck” is either. They held their first ever Silent Auction and raised $700 of their total that way.
 Linda Draddy runs the meetings of the Women’s Group at St. Stephens. Linda Draddy appears to run the women’s group – not the kind of woman many people actually say no to – she has a way about her. Sitting off to one side is the groups Secretary, Nelly Ferrell; a quick glance at Nelly and you know she has been taking the minutes for quite a while.
During the fund raising drive the Burlington Community Foundation has run there have been dozens of small groups that found a way to raise funds. Some in the group had their homes flooded but they had time to help others out.
One woman asked if there was still a need for furniture. Another wanted to know how to get the application forms.
With the cheque presentation – Linda Draddy moved the group on to the next item on the agenda; approving the cost of the refreshments for a funeral reception.
 Nelly Ferrell, secretary to the group. She has probably been taking the minutes for years. They are indeed the backbone of the community. This was a small group, tucked away in a corner of ward 3 with a larger Catholic Church across the street and a school couple of hundred yards away. There were no dignitaries on hand; the ward Councillor wasn’t there to get his picture taken, the Mayor didn’t make an appearance. One of the men from the Church Council was on hand,
By Staff
November 27, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
They are going to do it again this year.
Last year with a lot of pushing from ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward the city made all of December a free parking downtown month.
“We heard from many people last year who enjoyed the free parking promotion and took advantage of the offer to do some of their holiday shopping and celebrating in the downtown,” said Scott Stewart, general manager of development and infrastructure. “We hope the return of free parking throughout December will encourage residents and visitors to explore the people and places that make downtown Burlington a great place to visit, live and work.”
 Throughout December, vehicles parking at on-street parking meters can park free for up to three hours. For vehicles parked at municipal parking lots or at the parking garage at 414 Locust St., there is no maximum time limit. Overnight parking in municipal lots is allowed except during snow removal activity between 2 and 6 a.m.
The city created a cute video to get the message across.
 The City of Burlington provides more than 1,400 municipal public parking spaces in downtown Burlington and offers free parking year-round in downtown Burlington on weekends, Monday to Friday after 6 p.m. and holidays.
When the city announced the program last year the people working at the local retail locations saw a good deal and made the best of it – it was hard to get a space in some of the more popular lots – they were filled with people who worked downtown – not the people who had come downtown to shop.
The city manager at the time put out a pretty stiff memo but it took a few days to get the needed attitude change. Interim city manager Pat Moyle might want to dig out that memo and re-issue it.
Related articles:
The free parking was supposed to be for customers – not staff at retail locations.
Councillor argues that free parking for city employees is a taxable benefit.
Councillor goes after free parking during budget discussion.
By Staff
November 25, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
 Bring your pen and pad, come with some ideas or just ready to write.
Prompts will be provided, sharing is requested, but not mandatory.
All writing styles welcome, ages 12 and up.
This workshop is provided for FREE, but donations are accepted.
Thursday – Tansley Woods Library 7-9
 By Pepper Parr
November 24, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
He left us on this day in 1807. Sometime after his community transported his remains to Brantford where he is celebrated and revered.
Burlington was the location of the land grant Joseph Brant was given for his service to the British Army during the American Revolutionary wars.
 Joseph Brant was a part of making Canada what it is today – he just isn’t adequately recognized for his contribution. The city is littered with the history of the land transfers that piece by piece transferred every acre from Joseph Brant to other people in Burlington. The Kerns family was the first to buy property from Brant – 200 acres on the east side of Brant Street.
Each August the city holds an event at the LaSalle Park and Joseph Brant does get a mention.
The Board of the Brant Museum on Lakeshore Road has elaborate plans for a modern display telling the Brant story and the copy of the original Brant home will be part of the structure but the public won’t be able to actually go into the building – that will be used for “administrative” purposes.
 Architect’s rendering of what a “new” Joseph Brant Museum might look like. It would be built on an intersection that will become one of the busiest in the city when the re-developed hospital opens in 2018/19 Poor Joseph Brant – we keep short selling the man and his exceptionally significant achievements.
There is hope. Rick Wilson, the man who corrected a major error in historical fact when he pointed out that an historical sign on the Burlington Heights side of Burlington Bay was incorrect when it described a War of 1812 battle.
That error got corrected and there is now a piece of signage that sets that story straight. Wilson has some thoughts that he hopes will result in the creation and erection of a suitable statue of Brant.
There is hope.
Related stories:
Citizen finally gets the province to recognize their error.
Signage goes up telling the true story of the Burlington Races.
By Pepper Parr
November 24, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
It was a four event opening at the Art Gallery of Burlington as well as the announcement that Christopher Reid Flock had won the very prestigious Winnifred Shantz ceramics award for his recent ceramic work.
 Christopher Reid Flock’s award winning ceramic. Flock has been reinterpreting the root of functional objects, focusing on aesthetic contrasts and parallels between Japanese and Canadian cultural history. By exploring scale, colour and the integration of mixed media, his works have evolved into free-form shapes and sculptural constructions that evoke recognizable and classic references of traditional Japanese Ikebana arrangements and kimono-wrapping while combining aspects of western industrialization.
The Clay & Glass presents these awards to practicing early career artists who have worked professionally for fewer than 10 years prior to the date of application. The Award is intended to allow the artists to undertake a period of independent research or other activities with the goal of advancing their artistic and professional practice at a key moment in the artist’s career.
Flock began working with clay when he was 23 at the then Burlington Arts Centre. He began his career as a student studying violin and came to the realization that clay was his medium and the violin became a thing of the past.
Denis Longchamps, Director of Program for the AGB was like a proud parent when he made the announcement at the opening Sunday afternoon.
The piece that won the award is on display at the former Fireside Gallery.
 Debra Kuzyk’s ceramic skunk The four openings included Scavengers, Scoundrels and Urban Vermin; a collection of Debra Kuzyk’s ceramic work; the photography of Janusz Wrobel; the monochromatic watercolour abstractions of Warren Hoyano and the display of the award winning Flock ceramic.
Janusz Wrobel was once loaned a camera and given a couple of rolls of film, the current state of that journey was on the walls of the AGB and called “An Aqueous State”
 Janusz Wrobel : “Sweet Water Sea” Wrobel said he wasn’t trying to communicate anything specific with this exhibit but adds that he “came to believe that in our civilization, environmental predicaments could be effectively addressed only by a change of mindset by a vast majority of us.”
The locale for the photographs in this exhibit is Georgian Bay; the work of Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven are an admitted influence.
Warren Hoyano is on the other side of the Lee Chin Family Gallery.
The decision to put the two artists in the same gallery was a curatorial stretch on the part of AGB Director of Program, Dennis Longchamps and yet it works. Moving from the side of the room where Wrobel’s “Evening Amber” is displayed and crossing over – some 30 feet, to where Hoyano’s “Ache” is displayed is certainly a jump.
Not a startling one – but not one you expected to make. It isn’t jarring – but it does stretch you and that is part of what art is supposed to do for us.
In the “This Pocket of Deeds”, Hoyano, a self-taught artists, explores a known shape, the heart and overlaps it with script and gestural marks.
 One piece from the Warren Hoyano, “This Pocket of Deeds exhibit at the Art Gallery of Burlington While love is often associated with the heart shape, Hoyano chose “Void” to engage the viewer on a different trajectory.
Both artists are on display at the AGB until January 25th.
By Staff
November 20, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Steven Levy is a CBS News presenter. Last Sunday he did a commentary on CBS Sunday Morning.
What led to the Commentary was the news that the White House referred to Christmas Trees as Holiday Trees for the first time this year.
 Steven Levy objects to the White House Christmas Tree being called a Holiday Tree. “I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat”
“Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren’t allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.
“In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it’s not funny, it’s intended to get you thinking.
“In light of recent events… Terrorists attack, school shootings, etc.. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O’Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn’t want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school… The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
“Then Dr. Steven Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock’s son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he’s talking about.. And we said okay..
 The White House has decided to call this a Holiday Tree. “Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
“Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with ‘We reaphat we sow”.
“Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world’s going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send ‘jokes’ through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
“Are you laughing yet?
“Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you’re not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.
“Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.”
 By Walter Mulkewich
November 18th, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
Greg Sorbara, “The Battlefield of Ontario Politics, An Autobiography”, Dundurn Publishers, Toronto, 2014
Greg Sorbara was one of Ontario’s most influential provincial politicians for 27 years from 1985 to 2012: He was a significant cabinet minister in the governments of David Peterson and Dalton McGuinty, including Minster of Finance in the McGuinty government. As President of the Liberal Party of Ontario and Chair of three consecutive Liberal Party election campaign victories, he helped build a successful political machine in Ontario.
 He was in Burlington Monday night as part of his book tour and demonstrated with his straight and candid talk why he was successful and progressive politician.
Sorbara’s autobiography provides a useful summary of Ontario provincial political issues in the past quarter century. But, most significantly this book gives a candid view of how politicians play the political game to actually get things done.
It’s a good read for aspiring politicians, those who want to understated what happens in the back rooms of political parties, and for all of us to understand how politics works.
He gives an understandable account of how the Ontario Health Premium was developed even though his party campaigned on a promise of no tax increase. He explains the kind of deal making that made possible the York Subway expansion. He shows the kind of collaboration that was needed to develop a progressive Ontario Child benefit.
Sorbara deals with the reality of politics as team sport: His candidacy for the Ontario Liberal Party leadership in 1992 in which he came third. His private views on issues such as the harmonized HST and Meech Lake. An honest account of his resignation from the Cabinet over allegations with respect to the Royal Technologies affair, he was exonerated and returned to cabinet. Some interesting stories about candidate recruitment and how campaigns are organized
Perhaps his most controversial chapter is about the gas plant issues in Oakville and Mississauga that he calls “the gas plant myths”, which were “impervious to evidence”. He devoted much of his talk in Burlington to this topic and makes a convincing case, but his is a point of view some might challenge.
His last chapter is the most interesting. He reflects on the future. He expresses his concern about income inequality and he makes a strong case for a national Income Support System and tax reform, as well as federal investment in cities. He talks about the need to grow the economies of smaller cities outside the GTA.
Perhaps Sorbara’s most interesting and controversial suggestion is that, while the Catholic School system has served its purpose, Ontario is changing, and we should have one publicly funded educational system. But, this is a position he never championed in his time at Queens Park.
As the pragmatic practitioner of the political arts, he does not indicate how we might move the political system to accomplish a single public educational system or his other ideas in his last chapter. Maybe that is the point of his book, that there is a time and place for taking on issues.
 Walter Mulkewich is former Mayor of Burlington. He served from 1991 to 1997. Prior to that he was a member of city Council in Burlington and Halton Regional Council.
 By Staff
November 15, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
 Helicopter with Santa aboard arrives at the Burlington Mall. The Ho, Ho, Ho man arrived at the Burlington Mall Saturday morning. He grabbed his bag of candy canes and headed for the store where he happily sat for hours getting his picture taken with kids on his knee and a smile on his face.
 This is Santa’s “cookie” elf -handing out cookies to the crowds awaiting Santa’s arrival. Check out the pink tool belt with the kitchen utensils. The elf learned her cooking skills at Tuck elementary school. The event is an annual thing for the Burlington Mall. Santa will be “in residence” from
10:00 am – 8:00 pm on Fridays, from 10:00 am – 6:00 pm on Saturdays and from 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm on Sundays, starting November 15, 2014.
Once December hits and Santa and his elves have finished making toys for Christmas, he’ll be able to spend more time at his cabin.
 Santa listens carefully to make sure he gets the gift request right. His December hours are: 10:00 am – 8:00 pm Monday through Saturday, and 10:00 am – 6:00 pm on Sundays.
By Staff
November 14, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
A Burlingtonian is at least going to get a chance to carry the Pan Am Torch. We didn’t get to hold any of the Pan Am events at Sherwood Forest Park because of the mis-information that was handed out by both the city, the then Council member.
We did get to rent a brand new soccer pitch at City View Park to the soccer teams for practices but the public will not be allowed to watch any of those practices. We will be getting a pretty decent sized cheque for letting them use the space.
 And the Delta Hotel that will rise on Lakeshore Road along with a 22 and a seven storey condominium won’t be open in time for the games either.
But someone from Burlington will carry the torch through the city. And the public is going to be involved in choosing who that person is going to be.
Burlington is described as a major celebration community for the Pan Am Torch Relay and will choose a local resident to carry the Pan Am flame on behalf of the city.
The Burlington Pan Am Community Engagement Committee is accepting applications and nominations until Dec. 14. To be considered, applicants or nominators must submit a photo and a Letter of Interest explaining the connection to Burlington and what being Burlington’s community torchbearer would mean to him or her. The public will then vote on a short list of names the committee will release.
If you’re interested send your application to: www.burlington.ca/panam .
Allan Magi, the city’s executive director of capital works said: “We encourage residents who will be 13 years and older on May 30, 2015, to apply to be Burlington’s community torchbearer. “We’ll be looking to the community to help select the finalist to run for Burlington when the flame comes to the city.”
The short list of torchbearer nominees, including their submissions, will be shared at on the panam portion of the city web site.
Residents will be asked to select the community torchbearer to represent Burlington beginning Dec. 19, 2014. Voting will close on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2015. The selected torchbearer will be notified in mid-January.
The relay begins in May 2015 with the traditional Aztec lighting ceremony at the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico. The Canadian journey for the flame starts with its arrival in Toronto on May 30, 2015.
It will then visit five cities in Canada, as well as 130 communities across Ontario.
By Staff
November 13, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
 You choose your bowl, get it filled with soup, enjoy the meal at a table with friends and totter along to the Arts and Craft Sale elsewhere in the building. Soup and a Bowl is reason enough to visit the Art Gallery of Burlington – the Christmas Arts and Craft Sale is what could keep you there long after lunch.
The Soup Bowl event has been taking place for 18 years with artists from around the province contributing the bowls that are used and then taken home.
The potters get a tax receipt for each bowl they make and a free ticket to the event for every ten bowls they make.
We asked: “Do some potters contribute more than one bowl?” “Oh my gosh” responded Anne Brownell, the staffer directing the promotion of this event, “we had people who made more than 100 bowls each.” Joanne Paas, Chu Luu and Greg Marshall contributed more than 100 bowls each.
We usually need between 700 and 800 bowls – we got 1500 this year so we are set for another year.
 The table setting would put a lot of Burlington restaurants to shame. The event has always been popular. The table setting in the Shoreline Room is not that far from the way the dining room at the King Edward hotel is set up.
With a tummy filled with unique soups – it is a short walk to the north end of the AGB and an opportunity to purchase art and craft items on sale.
 The AGB Guilds put on the Christmas Arts and Craft sale at the same time as the Soup Bowl event. Artists in Burlington see this as one of the premiere events for them to market their work. Six of the AGB Guilds take part in the event – something not to be missed.
The Arts and Crafts sale runs from November 13th through to November 16th.
By James Smith
November 13, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
I remember this past Tuesday. I’m standing in my office staring at the framed memento, almost 100 years old. A thing I’ve looked at and read countless times; “In the Service of the Nation”. Standing silently I read the names of the engagements: Chateau Thierry, Soissons, Argonne. Argonne, where he received his Purple Heart. The Purple Heart is framed and kept by one of my brothers, now retired from the American Military.
 I remember. I remember being a child, holding the medal in my hand and can still feel how heavy & cold it was. How odd to touch the engraved name, the same name as me. I can now hear the TV downstairs again. Two minutes are up, all over, go back to what you were doing. Except I keep thinking of him, his easy smile, the shock of thick white hair, the soft voice that gave his birthplace away despite decades of life in Hell’s Kitchen. He’d never talk about the war, we kids would press but he’d cloud over and say something like “The park is no place to talk of such things”. The most he would ever say is that it was a quick way to become a REAL American.
I remember his funeral. I was just old enough to know that Vietnam was starting to go badly and my own childhood notion of going to America and joining the US Marines was starting to fade as a real goal. The flag draped coffin and the honour guard suddenly seemed very scary to a ten year old. I almost cried in shock when the rifle volleys sounded. The folded flag presented to my Grandmother made me think of what I had been seeing on the TV and the young men being killed in Vietnam.
I remember looking at the Empire State Building in the distance as we made our way back to the limousine and thinking as sad as I was, what would it be like if this was one of my cousins? What if it was my dad being lowered into the ground? I’ve sometimes thought back to that springtime week in New York as the time when I started to wonder about such things that Edwin Starr would sing about a few years later in his song WAR!
I remember the following November and learning to recite In Flanders Field (I still can by the way). At the Remembrance Day assembly not only did I recite John McCrae’s Poem but I introduced the speaker. A First World War Vet, a kindly and grandfatherly gentleman. He kept me on stage to hold his tin hat after I introduced him. The helmet had an odd slice in the back flange, I put my fingers in the hole as I nervously continued to stand on stage, the slash in the steel felt cold and jagged and I wondered about the hole.
Our guest spoke not about war, but about the peace that he hoped we had gained through the horror of three wars. He told us of his wish that peace would fill our days so us kids would never have to see any of the horror that he, and my late Grandfather did. As he concluded his address he took a piece of metal out of his pocket and said how luck he was to be speaking to us and had me hand him his helmet back. With this nasty chunk of metal in one hand and the helmet in the other, he neatly locked the shrapnel into the hole in the tin hat. The audience gasped. After the assembly at recess I was briefly a cool kid because I had held this army helmet, but I recall being somewhat confused by the experience. I still am.
I remember and honour those who’ve served and those who’ve died and respect those who still continue to wear the uniform. I think all Canadians are a little more mindful and respectful this November after the killing of Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, and Corporal Nathan Cirillo. But war should never be an option until every other option has been tried and found wanting. Since the Korean War Canada has a proud history of Peace Keeping, a tradition that some would have us move away from. In fact we have very few remaining Peacekeepers in this world and I don’t like this trend. I think my grandfather and others of his generation would tend to agree with me.
 In their book WARRIOR NATION: REBRANDING CANADA IN AN AGE OF ANXIETY, Ian McKay and Jamie Swift talk about the “New Warriors” who are “looking to shift public opinion.” They speak of “zealots” who would “transform postwar Canada’s central myth-symbols. Peaceable kingdom. Just society. Multicultural tolerance. Reasoned public debate.” They would replace these traditions with “A warrior nation. Authoritarian leadership. Permanent political polarization.” Vimy Ridge it seems is more important than Baldwin and LaFontaine, MacDonald and Cartier, Laurier and the settling of the west or many other achievements.
A battle in a useless war is now being spoken of as what “made” Canada. This trend troubles Messrs McKay and Swift enough they’ve written a book, and this trend fills me with an empty feeling. The first world war was a war between Empires that was foolish, brutal, stupid and avoidable. As a colony Canada was involved because we had no choice. That men fought, and fought bravely should be remembered, but so should the fact that it wrecked and bankrupted Europe and set the table for Fascism and Stalinism and the further horror that was the second world war. That we should say our nation “came of age” because brave men killed other brave men in a war that we had no say in seems to me to the acme of jingoistic nostalgia for the good old days of Red Ensigns and Rule Britannia not the foundation of the amazing country we live in today.
I remember an all but forgotten monument on University Avenue in Toronto. You’ve likely seen it, just north of Queen Street, it’s the memorial dedicated to those who died in the Boer War. The monument features two heroic young Canadian lads marching off to do battle. As they look to the middle distance, they march in the direction a young Britannia is pointing to.
Whenever I see this monument it always make me think she’s saying: “Go! Go forth & defend the Empire good lads! Africa must be free of the evil Dutch farmers and safe for gold & diamond mines and to build Apartheid! GO my lads GO!” It is a lonely and sad monument that seems to be forgotten. Many men fought bravely for Queen and Empire, four Victoria Crosses were awarded to Canadians in that war. Given the precedent of this forgotten monument why not dust that off too and say Canada was born on the Veldt at Paardeberg rather than Vimy Ridge? I say it’s just as relevant.
 I remember visiting Sarajevo. Back when it was still Yugoslavia and I stood on the spot where Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assassinated. The spot where the match was struck that started the Great War, and it seemed so ordinary and almost shabby. How did such a quaint and diverse city, an Olympic host city later become a place of such carnage in the Bosnian war? I bet I know part of the reason. Hate. Intolerance. Envy. Authoritarian Leadership. Political Polarization. Military Zealots.
We need to rid our landscape of such things. That the military will always be a large part of Remembrance day goes without saying. But we need to always ensure that our Remembrance Day ceremonies do not become jingoistic celebrations of conflict. The reason we remember those who served and who have fallen is to also reflect on the Peace and what is left of our Freedoms due to the service and the sacrifice of so many. We lose these freedoms through our complacency and acceptance of what the generals want.
Just to let you in on a teeny weeny secret; since at least the time of the Sumerians, the Generals have never had enough toys, and they always want to play with their toys.
I remember in the 1970’s some wag saying “rather than declare war on a little country, we should declare Peace on all countries”. I’d like to suggest we take this idea up and start a new tradition for our next Canada Day; two minutes of silence while we think about what we can do for Peace in our homes, workplaces, cities, provinces and our country. Perhaps then we can build a world that’s more like what my Grandfather would have liked to think that his service helped to build.
James Smith is an architectural technologist who dabbles in politics and has been described as an essayist. The above is his most recent pondering.
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