 By Staff
July 16, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
John Sweeney has said he will not be running for office even though he blew $100 to nominate himself as a council member in ward 4. He hasn’t withdrawn – yet. He wants to keep his name out there and be able to comment on what he feels are matters of interest – and he certainly has things to say about the structure of the new Economic Development Corporation.
 wev Sweeney asked Mayor Goldring and Ward 4 Councillor Jack Dennison to comment on several questions:
Here is what they had to say:
Sweeney points out that “they did not answer all of the questions. They did some of the politician “side-step” or just answering the portion of a question that they wanted to instead of just answering in its entirety. They do however confirm that the Board of the BEDC will be compensated and the costs will increase but they are not sure by how much.
Dennison points out that he, Councillor Sharman, the Mayor, the city manager and General Manger Scott Stewart will sit on the board – Stewart will not have a vote.
“The burning platform, according to Dennison “is the fact that Burlington is the slowest growing city in the GTA and the oldest city.
As a result, our increase in assessment growth is projected to be .50% in 2014 compared to 1.5%, 3 years ago and 3% 10 years ago.
This slow growth, if not acted upon, will create tax rate increases higher than we would like and service reduction as well.
In addition any additional growth we can get from the ICI Sector pays approximately double what residential pays for identical assessment, while generally not putting additional strain on infrastructure.
Sweeney wanted to know: Why the rush to get this done? Is there a phased option? Repurpose BEDC right now and then spend some more time on the specifics of the hold/devco options. The current budget for BEDC is established and approved why not wait until next year and makes this part of the OP and also secures the support of the Council in place after the election since they will be executing it.
The response: The new BEDC will be a more structured, focused and purposeful organization that will take some time to transition.
 Councillor Jack Dennison sits on the board of the reformed Economic Development Corporation – expect him to urge that they be both direct and aggressive. First, get the new board and CEO in place. Secondly, focus on more aggressive strategies around attraction and retention and then pursue development opportunities that could include land banking and partnering with developers
Why is it “For Profit”? Why not a “Non-profit” structure?
We want BEDC to have the potential to act as a developer if necessary. That does not mean that BEDC has to generate profits no matter what.
If the end result is to have a Servco capability, this could save tax payers money and potentially have a for profit component that could also reduce the continual strain on the city operating budget.
3/ Is there an increased cost? Different skill sets, higher salaries, more people?
Yes – although the specific details are yet to be clearly defined.
4/ Is the current BEDC Board compensated? Will the new BEDC Board be compensated? How much? Will the members of the interim board be eligible for the new board?
The governance of the new BEDC will be created similar to Burlington Hydro which does pay directors. Last year, directors were compensated in the $10 – $12k range.
5/ Who will have the “controlling” interest on the board of directors?
The board will report to council in the same way Burlington Hydro reports to council.
There will be 3 reps from the city on a board including the City Manager or designate, Mayor and one Councillor.
6/ How will we measure and ensure that we focus on economic development and jobs instead of making profit for the various “ventures”?
The focus will be on jobs and assessment growth. Making “profit” could be a secondary outcome.
7/ If I am a private developer that does not want to/need to work with BEDC Inc., am I at a disadvantage? How will I be supported? Do I have to pay for it?
 Mayor Rick Goldring may find himself talking to a lot of business people about the new economic development corporation. Absolutely not. The role of BEDC will be to guide developers through the process. In fact, I see the potential for a rep from BEDC to literally knock on doors of landowners to advise them of the tremendous potential they have and offer to help. Existing, aging strip malls are a classic example of an opportunity to rezone as mixed use with retail and office below and residential above, all using existing services.
8/ Is it really appropriate to have allow this organization to spend up to $1,000,000 without going to council?
Currently the budget of BEDC is over $1 million so they can spend their budget the way they see fit. Another view was that the budget approval does have a level of specifics and Council is expecting that funds be spent with-in those guidelines.
Expect to hear more on this once the public, particularly the business community gets a clearer idea as to just what is happening at BEDC. Executive Director (why didn’t’ they make him president) Frank McKeown has his work cut out for the next few months getting some clarity out into the public realm.
 By Vince Rossi
July 15, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
It has been suggested that I am suing a number of people who have publicly opposed the expansion of the Burlington Executive Airpark to try to shut them up. Nothing could be further from the truth.
 Mr. Rossi focuses on the water testing reports – which are a serious concern. Most people think it is far too early to tell if the water table is being contaminated. Little is known about where much of the landfill came from. \that it was dumped with out a site plan is seen as outrageous to almost everyone. Mr. Rossi makes no mention of his “unlicensed landfill operation”. The fact is I welcome debate on the future of the Airpark, the important role it plays in our community, and the future potential it represents in terms of jobs and economic opportunity.
The reason I am suing is because despite repeated attempts to reason with this small group of people, they continue to knowingly spread false information that is damaging both to the Airpark and to me personally.
Seven different reports by independent third-parties including Halton Region, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Environment Canada, and Pinchin Environmental have found no safety issues with the commercial fill we have been using as part of the planned expansion of the Airpark. These same reports conclude that local well water and soil quality are not being negatively affected by any of our expansion activities.
Despite this overwhelming evidence, the opponents of the Airpark continue to engage in fear-mongering. They rely on a single report that is full of errors and omissions – so much so that it has been discredited by the provincial environment ministry.
If they were being completely transparent, they would admit that this is a run-of-the-mill commercial dispute. Nothing more.
The leader of this group owns a horse farm just north of the Airpark. She apparently feels that we cannot co-exist even though the Airpark at its current location since 1962. It’s equally apparent that she feels she is unlikely to gain much sympathy if the public knew the true nature of the dispute, and that it revolves around her own financial interests.
 There is the belief in the minds of many that the tonnes of landfill dumped on air park property without adequate testing has the potential to seriously damage the water table. Rossi argues that six of seven reports prove him right – then why the problems with Freedom of Information requests ask the citizens of rural Burlington. Despite all the evidence to the contrary she and others insist in referring to the single flawed report. Trust me, if I could get them to stop suggesting that local well water is being contaminated without having to go to court, I wouldn’t be in court. As it is, going to court is my only recourse.
 Vince Rossi, president of the Burlington Executive Air Park and believed to be the sole shareholder of the private company, at a meeting in a barn one property away from the end of one of his two runways. The Airpark is a key transportation and training facility that also provides a vital humanitarian role, facilitating organ donation flights and patient transfers to local hospitals that don’t have heli-pads or landing facilities. Police, military and search and rescue teams regularly use the Airpark, as well.
In short, the Airpark is an essential community and regional asset, and the case for expansion is compelling. It will create even more opportunities for employment, training and economic development in our area.
I welcome discussion on the future of the Airpark and I am more than happy to work with my neighbours and the community at large to find a way forward. My only request is that we stick to the facts.
Vince Rossi is the owner of the Burlington Executive Airpark.
 By Staff
July 16, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Burlington got the McMaster University DeGroote campus but it doesn’t seem to make all that much of a difference to the city – stuck out in a field the way it is.
The campus was supposed to be located in downtown Burlington but like many things planned for the downtown core – that one got away.
Halton regional council voted Wednesday of last week to throw its support behind Wilfrid Laurier University’s efforts to establish a full service campus, adjacent to the Mattamy National Cycling Centre (Milton velodrome).
 Velodrome construction: site has room for a full scale campus if the province goes along with Wilfred Laurier University setting up a satellite campus. seems to be a better deal than Burlington got with McMaster. The campus would provide a range of undergraduate, liberal arts, science and professional programs and a full range of student services for approx. 2,500 students.
Milton has pledged to donate 150 acres of land to Laurier for a new campus including 100 acres of protected land and 50 acres within the proposed 400-acre Milton Education Village (west of Tremaine Road, between Derry Rd. and Britannia Rd.)
Burlington has never managed to exercise the clout it should have at the Regional level. Chair Gary Carr is reported to have said to one candidate for municipal office that Burlington doesn’t seem to fully appreciate the role it can play and gets out-muscled by both Oakville and Milton. The leadership needed by Burlington at the Region just never seems to materialize.
Burlington Council members often go to the Region with different agendas and objectives – frequently not as a team with a consistent objective. We saw that with the Beachway issue.
John Taylor who is experiencing a full-scale snit over the advocacy for safe bike lanes on New Street when the re-surfacing of that road takes place in the near future, argues that the Burlington city council does not pull together all that often. Others argue that because it is a small council – 7 people – it develops a sense of collegiality but at the same time allows each council member to go their own way.
The council members tend to get very territorial as well and fail to recognize that while they are elected to represent a specific ward they are also in place to look after the interests of the city as a whole.
At one city council workshop Councillor Craven spoke in favour of rules that would keep council members out of the turf of another council member. Councillor Meed Ward gave did her best to set him straight on just what the role of a council member is.
Councillor Taylor found himself stepping in for a ward 1 resident in the Beachway who had no water for nine months (don’t ask why – it gets complicated in the Beachway). Councillor Craven was livid.
As much as Mayor Goldring would like to believe that he heads up – doesn’t lead – a collective that is working towards the same goal – it isn’t so.
Milton had no problem agreeing on the donation of a large piece of property in a prime location – 2500 students. Imagine something like that happening to Burlington?
 By Staff
July 18, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
Time for a bit of a break.
Time for some sunshine and cool waters of a Northern Ontario lake.
The Gazette has moved into a summer mode – that doesn’t mean we are not publishing – we just aren’t publishing as much.
 There was a time when the city didn’t have more than $14 million of taxpayers money sitting at the end of Brant Street. There are those who think it should have been left the way it was. There will be material up every day and we can monitor events from the cottage – just as long as we are able to hop along to the library where there is WiFi access.
 There is material being written on two very significant retirements; the background on why what you knew as the Burlington Art Centre, now re-branded as the Art Gallery of Burlington where the wee cafe is no longer there and many are wondering if there is any relationship between the people who had the contract and a local lawyer who wants to put a restauranteur in jail. Stay tuned for more on that story.
Catch you full time on the 21st
 By Staff
July 11, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
Is there a member of Council so put off by the case being made by the cycling community for bike lanes on New Street that he has actually said to people he might withdraw his name from the race?
 Every report put out by staff gets a thorough going over by Councillor John Taylor. Ward 3 Councillor John Taylor does wear his emotions on his sleeve and he does get exercised with how we manage the re-building and maintenance of our roads.
Councillors Taylor and Dennison both look for ways to scrape money away from any budget line they can find and apply it to road repair – which both men will tell anyone who cares to listen that we are millions of dollars behind on.
New Street is due for major work and the cyclists have argued, quite convincingly, that this is the time to get bike lanes in – once the re-build is done it will be 30 years plus before there is another opportunity to put in really safe bike lanes.
In many of the staff reports that get sent to Council we are seeing consistent reference to the need for a project to be walk-able and cycle-able.
The cycling community has become quite a bit more aggressive in their push for safer bike lanes. One advocate points out that planners often talk about providing a service and watching that service get taken up. “Build it and they will come” is the catch phrase. Build more roads and the cars will find those roads. Build a transit line and people will find it – not so much in Burlington but certainly in most municipal situations.
The cyclists argue that if more bike lanes are built – and they are safe bike lanes – we will see more people using bicycles to get around the city.
 Councillor John Taylor All this appear to have Councillor Taylor very exercised. We got a call from a source we see as very reliable saying that other council members are talking about Taylor’s concern over the re-build of portions of New Street. We spoke to a senior staff member who commented that he had heard the same thing.
Is John Taylor thinking of throwing in the towel and withdrawing from the October election? He has served the city well for the past 20+ years – but age, energy level and overall health do change the way we look at things.
There is a time to leave public office – and John Taylor may have decided this is that time for him.
And that presents some very serious problems. Taylor has been such a success in ward 3 that no one has come forward to run against him. Cory Judson did his best – but he moved to Stoney Creek and started a family. Lisa Cooper, a several time candidate, sees herself as sitting in the wings waiting for Taylor to leave.
Should John actually decide to spend more time smelling the roses – he owes it to the ward to work hard in the next month or so and find a candidate that understand the political process at the municipal level and then do two things: Work to get that person elected and stick around to mentor them during their first year.
John Taylor is a little bit like the American Library of Congress – he knows it all and we need him to make that background and history available to others.
And while we are at it – could we appoint Taylor to the Hamilton Harbour Commission – John still has a lot to say.
We were able to reach John Taylor, who said he has never run from a difference of opinion and he is not pulling out of the race. But there are still those three sources – all very reliable, and none of them have a vested interest – they all speak very highly of John, know him well and respect the work he does.
There may be more to this story.
By Pepper Parr
July 10, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
Now it gets interesting. We got an email from a source who says: “So I am involved in a lawsuit involving a downtown Burlington Restaurant owner. I am currently trying to put him in jail.”
The writer had my attention. First thing I had to do was verify that the writer actually wrote the email. Yup – it was real.
The writer continues: “His lawyer emails me the other day and states: “My client has recently advised me of his friendship and political connection with Councillor Rick Craven.
The source goes on to add that there a was a meeting with “the litigant” (that’s the guy the source wants to put in jail) and Councillor Craven regarding downtown events. To be open, I told the arts person I was having coffee with that I was in the process of trying to put “the litigant” in jail.
Now that is a hot news item. Don’t know yet who the restaurateur is, do know that the source of the information is running for office as well. We expect to speak with others on this story later in the week.
By Pepper Parr
July 10, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
He needed a little while to reset his compass but Frank McKeown has found his bearings and will focus on what he knows best – business. He was appointed Executive Director of the BEDC Inc., the city’s arm’s length operation created to drum up business for the city. And goodness knows we need it.
The organization has been without a rudder since last October when, on All Hallows Eve, then Executive Director Kyle Benham was shown to his parking space and sent home with his keys to the office in someone else’s hands.
McKeown is one of those quiet, very effective guys, who goes about his business asking incisive questions and taking notes.
 Frank McKeown, former Chief of Staff to Mayor Rick Goldring asked about how politicians can handle complex issues, when voters tend not to be informed and don’t have the background needed to arrive at decisions. He was involved in Rick Goldring’s 2010 election campaign and wrote most of the position papers that Goldring put out. McKeown will tell you that the Mayor managed to deliver on most of those.
Shortly after being elected Goldring appointed McKeown as his Chief of Staff, which at the time seemed odd – staff consisted of 4 people. Turns out Frank was really the chief thinker on the 8th floor.
 He was heavily involved in the Strategic Plan discussions in 2011, where he was frequently referred to as the “seventh council member” at times disparagingly by others, who took part in those prolonged meetings.
McKeown’s job was a political one. He was there to think and to run interference for the Mayor. But two years into the job McKeown got despondent and came to the conclusion, he couldn’t get much done with the culture at both city hall and the eighth floor. He gave the Mayor six months’ notice and headed back to the private sector.
There was a period of time when McKeown was talked about as a possible candidate for public office – first as a council member and then as Mayor. McKeown gave it serious thought, but decided instead to take the opportunity to head up the rejuvenated economic development operation.
Much of the rejuvenation that organization is going to get will be driven by McKeown – and he has a mammoth task on his hands.
He has a brand new board that has to learn how it wants to function. That board has to figure out how it wants to operate; what it is going to take to city council to get their rubber stamp placed on – and by the way, who will the BEDC be presenting to? Which councillors will be keeping those seats warm?
There is a small staff that has been poorly led in the past, badly served by the large board that was in place and now wonders what the future holds for them.
McKeown, who fully understands the need to nurture, mentor and grow staff, has his hands full. Nothing wrong with the people on the payroll – they have all done their best. They now need to know, what it is they are going to be expected to do – and that is not yet clear. We are about to see just how good the McKeown skill set is.
McKeown now takes the position that he is no longer a “public” figure and that he doesn’t have a public profile. Nice try – the job McKeown is taking on is one of the most critical and vital to the economic health of the city and what kind of a city Burlington is going to be economically.
In the past the BEDC has not been very good at telling not only their own story, but that of the city to the rest of the world. They got pulled into the same trap as the politicians and touted our being the “best medium sized city in Canada”.
But major corporate organizations were leaving the city and there wasn’t much being said about those that were setting up shop here.
The past iteration of the BEDC focused on networking and producing report after report and telling the public that the new tomorrow was just over the horizon.
McKeown is going to need until the end of this year to get all his ducks lined up. His board has yet to learn to work together as a team and the public needs to know, who they are and why they are there.
The business community tends to get rather shy when it comes to media and public scrutiny – they prefer to issue media releases and say as little as possible.
It is not yet clear as to just how transparent the operation will be. McKeown says he will be fully transparent, but was reluctant to release the names of the new board members. They are known – but for some reason McKeown wants to wait a bit before going public. That doesn’t fit with any definition of transparency we are aware of.
The new board consists of:
Gary Graham, Chair, Partner with Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP; Rick Goldring, Mayor, Paul Sharman, Councillor; Jack Dennison, Councillor; Ruta Staukas, VP – Human Resources Boehringer Ingelhein; Bonnie Prior Executive Director, Appraisal Institute of Canada; Randall Smallbone, Dealing Representative, Portland Investment Council; J. Michael Hanna, president, Kylin Developments; Gordon Knack, VP operations, MHPM Project Managers Inc.; D. David Conrath, president, Conrath Communications; Pat Moyle interim city manager, Burlington.
In their first public statement The Board of Directors of The Burlington Economic Development Corporation has announced that business executive Frank McKeown has been named the BEDC’s executive director.
“I want to welcome Frank to the position of executive director on behalf of the staff and the board of directors of the Burlington Economic Development Corporation,” said Gary Graham, the BEDC’s board chair. “Frank’s leadership skills match the BEDC’s needs as it takes an invigorated and proactive approach to the recruitment and retention of employers and those willing to invest in the development of employment lands.”
McKeown was chosen by the BEDC board at a June 24 meeting. The BEDC is being transformed to better align with the objectives of the city’s strategic plan, which include meeting the city’s economic prosperity goals and creating more jobs.
McKeown is an experienced business executive, who has held several executive roles, leading companies through restructuring, investment and public offering processes. He is a former chief of staff for Burlington Mayor Rick Goldring.
McKeown is the founder of KnowledgePark Technologies, a business mentor with HalTechRIC, an advisor to CONNEXXUS, and a mentor to Innovate Burlington.
“I am thankful to the board of directors for giving me this opportunity,” McKeown said. “I am committed to the economic development of the city and recognize how important these activities are for the long-term prosperity for residents.”
“Jobs and investment are critical to our future,” McKeown said. “Our economy is changing and we must meet these challenges. I look forward to working with the BEDC staff and Board to achieve our mandate together.”
BEDC is a non-profit, private-public partnership that promotes economic development on behalf of the City of Burlington, by creating a positive business environment that encourages new investment, supports Burlington’s local businesses, and facilitates opportunities for local growth and prosperity. BEDC is the first point of contact for companies seeking assistance, advice, and localized business solutions.
This is the same old baffle-gab that the corporate sector uses, mushy stuff that makes your mother proud, but doesn’t really say very much.
Let’s give them some breathing room and see where they are in a month or so.
By Pepper Parr
July 9, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
The pages, with signatures from more than 3000 Burlingtonians, who signed the Book of Best Wishes, celebrating the first birthday of HRH Prince George Alexander Louis were sent to the book binder in Georgetown.
With everything prepared beforehand the pages were sewn together and the case that holds the pages was completed and couriered to Rideau Hall in Ottawa.
 Everything that goes to Rideau Hall gets x-rayed before anyone opens anything. That kept the Book of Best Wishes out of the hands of the people who will arrange to get it to Prince George for his birthday, which will be celebrated at Kensington Palace in London, England on July 22nd
 A splendid volume with a fine message and the best wishes of thousands of Burlingtonians inside. We don’t know yet just how the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are going to handle the Book of Best Wishes, when it arrives. We believe Burlington is the only city in Canada that has prepared such a volume.
It was touch and go for the small committee that made this happen and there was some thought to skipping the first year – but we decided that if this was going to be a Burlington tradition, then we had to be there for the first year and every year thereafter.
 Classic binding is an ancient craft – there are few that do this kind of work in Canada. The firm we used, repairs old books as well as binding titles in leather for presentation purposes. They do the binding for the Giller Awards each year.
Keith Felton, the Master Binder who undertook our project, advised on the leather and the approach to the binding. His Georgetown shop is filled with equipment that has been used by the binding trade for centuries.
 Some of the calligraphy used to convey birthday greetings to a Prince. Cora Brittan did the calligraphy for the Book of Best Wishes. She chose the type style she wanted to use and added 22 karate gold decorations to many of the letters. Cora has done work for a number of different denominational Bishops.
She takes on a number of commissions each year and teaches calligraphy as well. Cora and her husband Eric are established, respected artists who hold an annual show in the Beach Blvd community in Hamilton. They have sold at the Art Gallery of Burlington at their annual auction.
 By Staff
July 9, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
The Lowville Golf Course on Britannia Road had late night visitors, without membership cards, who broke a glass door and loaded 14 golf bags and one set of golf clubs into a cube van and drove off.
Two male suspects drove a rented cube van, with unknown marker/decal on it, onto the property and parked it outside the entrance to the pro shop. They smashed the glass on the front door to gain entry.
Suspect #1:
Male, white
Approximately 20 – 35 years old
Lean build, tall
Wearing a dark coloured baseball hat backwards, dark handkerchief over his face, black sweatshirt, black skinny pants, and dark shoes. No gloves.
Suspect #2:
Male, white
Approximately 20 – 30 years old
Lean build, medium height
Wearing a dark coloured hoodie with his hood pulled up over his head, dark green knee length shorts and white running shoes. No gloves.
Three other golf pro shops in the surrounding Hamilton area have been broken into over the last few weeks.
Anyone with information on these crimes is asked to contact D/Sergeant Ron Hansen of the 3 District Criminal Investigations Bureau at 905 825-4747 ext 2315, or
Anyone with information on this or any other crime is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1 800 222-8477 (TIPS) or through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.com or by texting “Tip201” with your message to 274637 (crimes).
 By Ray Rivers
July 9, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
As long as there are men and women – and money – prostitution, the world’s oldest profession, will be with us. Prostitution is legal in Canada, though some supporting activities aren’t, such as soliciting, operating a bawdy house and living off the avails. The Supreme Court last year determined these pesky laws could endanger prostitutes in the conduct of their business, violating their Charter rights, and so gave the government a year to fix them or they’d be history.
Canada’s justice minister, Peter MacKay, could have pulled a Kim Campbell and simply allowed the prostitution laws to fade away – as Campbell had done with abortion, thereby removing it from the criminal code. These prostitution laws are archaic, originating before confederation and based on the dated puritan ethics of the time. Aside from any question of morality there is no need to regulate the money for sex business at the federal level. Municipalities are best equipped to deal with zoning, traffic issues, licensing, and public health as they do for other businesses.
 Justice Minister Peter McKay Nevertheless, Canada’s Justice Minister has decided what we need is more, not fewer laws. He is proposing to make buying sex illegal, ban advertising, and restrict selling sex to places free of minors. The only way sex workers will be able to conduct their trade is in back alleys, in customers’ cars and/or working through pimps. Instead of meeting his stated goal of eliminating prostitution this will just make it more victimizing, dangerous and unhealthy.
Prostitution is loosely defined as trading sex for some kind of payment. But defining payment and sex are problematic for an activity which comes in a variety of flavours, including males, females and everything in between. Coitus or intercourse may be what most people think of, but sex can be anything from oral to anal, sexual touching, just touching or even just talking.
Some ‘pros’ may see themselves as semi-professional sex therapists helping their clients with sexual problems, though don’t expect OHIP to pay for that service. And indeed, professional sex therapists do employ surrogates to provide sexual services.
And it really is about the money – money to live on. And if MacKay and Harper really wanted to do something significant to reduce the size of the industry they might start by ensuing all Canadians receive an adequate annual income. That way they wouldn’t have to resort to renting their bodies. Lifting the poverty level would remove the very reason that so many people turn tricks in the first place.
Legislating morality is a tricky business, especially in a multicultural Canada endowed with various religions, ethnic origins and cultural values. And societal values are constantly evolving as we shed the taboos of the past in favour of a broader enlightenment in this 21st century. Today there are a host of match-making, dating and even spouse-cheating services on-line and yet nobody talks about outlawing these businesses, which are really only a stone’s throw from what we call pimping.
 Mr. MacKay calls his new legal framework made-in-Canada, but it really just mimics the so-called Nordic model which most researchers on the topic admit is a hopeless failure at either eliminating prostitution or reducing potential violence.
Other jurisdictions, such as New Zealand, have effectively legalized (decriminalized) most aspects of prostitution making it safer for all parties involved in the business. And despite such liberalization of the oldest profession, evidence is that prostitution levels have not increased, as many feared they would. And they would know because sex workers there pay taxes on their earnings, unlike here.
If MacKay was really serious about what he calls victimization in the industry, the New Zealand model is what he should be looking at rather than that mixed bag he is bringing to the table – a mixed bag that the Supreme Court will once again rule against. And the moralistic Harper government will have to go back to the drawing boards to re frame the oldest profession.
And speaking of professions isn’t it time MacKay changed his or, rather, that his boss moved him into some other line of work. Almost every time this justice minister goes before the Supreme Court he loses his case – how on earth has he continued to hold his ministry with a record of incompetence like that.
If I were a PM that prides himself on being in control, I’d certainly want to change MacKay’s ministry if not his vocation. Come to think of it, he wasn’t much better as Minister of Defence either. Where is Kim Campbell when we need her?
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. He developed the current policy process for the Ontario Liberal Party.
Background links:
Prostitution Sex Workers The Wrong Way Flawed Information Street Walkers
International Statistics New Zealand Model New Zealand Harper’s Pitch
An Other View
Sex Surrogates – Nordic Model
What Sex Workers Say
By Pepper Parr
July 8, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Kim Phillips. General Manager Corporate and Community Services leaves the city payroll at the end of July. Tom Eichenbaum, Director of Engineering also leaves at the end of July – both move to that place, where pension cheques get deposited regularly and the email traffic is a lot smaller.
 Retiring General Manager Kim Phillips on the job during a United Way fund raising week. That leaves Burlington with just the one General Manager and a City Manager, who serves as an interim until at least after the election and probably into 2015. It is certainly not what you would call a top heavy organization.
Probably the biggest task on interim city manager Pat Moyle’s desk is the workforce plan, he will put to council during a Committee of the Whole meeting, with his rationalization for a new structure. Moyle, who has a strong municipal background, much of which wasn’t made public when he was appointed, explains that Burlington is basically out of the “greenfield” business – that phase, where we just took large swaths of land and plunked down suburban bungalow after suburban bungalow and kept building north of the old city that sort of ended at about Caroline Street.
The development charges for all this construction kept the city coffers full – life was good.
The decision made to maintain a large rural sector that will not permit development north of Dundas is said to be cast in stone – but this reporter has heard economic development people talk of at least some form of development on the north side of highway 407 – which would be the thin edge of the wedge.
The rural boundary creates other problems because there basically was no plan –other than that there would be no development – which is what allowed the air park growth to get out of hand.
The province has told Burlington to get into the intensification business – and we are getting there, but not with the joy and determination with which we built all those bungalows.
Moyle explains that we don’t need a city bureaucracy focused on new growth and development – we need a bureaucracy that does fixing and maintaining and providing programs and services for a population that now has a lot more older people than there were in those prime development days.
The financial structure has changed as well. Moyle, with the experience he gained while serving as CAO for the Region, explains that most of our infrastructure is paid for – the waste and sewage structure is basically complete. The major road work to be done is on arterial roads which are a regional responsibility. “All we have to do is maintain the local roads we have” says Moyle – which Councillor Dennison will remind him that we are millions of dollars behind.
Moyle has a decidedly different view of the city’s financial position than that of his predecessor Jeff Fielding, and looks forward to a Council meeting in September, when he brings forward the Results Based Accountability approach the city will be taking for the 2015 budget.
It isn’t often that one sees bureaucrats getting excited, especially when they are talking about numbers, but Pat Moyle gets a gleam in his eye, when he talks about the people in finance and the change they were asked to make by Jeff Fielding; how the money was spend and the work they do gets explained to the public.
 A career as a municipal civil servant, who believes the culture of every city hall should be: You are here to serve. When Jeff Fielding bought a one way ticket to Calgary, the city found itself in an awkward spot. It needed a city manager and found one in Pat Moyle. It was a good fit and he had the capacity to take the city through the recruiting and selection of a new city manager. The problem was that he had one of his two general managers retiring and had to come up with a staffing plan that would work for the new kind of organization the city needed.
When a new head honcho is hired that person usually wants to create their own team and put their own stamp on the organization they will run. Kind of hard to do that if the person they hire sees the situation a little differently – unless Council decides to hire someone who buys into the decisions that have already been made – which kind of limits the choices.
Moyle has some pretty clear ideas on how the hiring process should go. Because of his extensive municipal experience there isn’t anyone out there, at least in Ontario, that he doesn’t know and he probably knows, who the top talent is in the rest of the country.
The plan, as Moyle explains it, is to advertise, review the resumes and then ask the short list to do some “game playing”. Each candidate would be given an information package and asked to design or scope out how they would organize the city to meet the challenges set out in the information package. It will be a little like putting them in a sandbox and giving all of them the same tools and toys and then watching what they build.
A good approach – but who will pull together the information package. Jeff Fielding saw the city’s financial situation one way – Pat Moyle sees it differently. Councillor Paul Sharman will tell you that the data is what matters most. Garbage in results in garbage out.
The dean of city council with more than 22 years in the building has his hat in the ring for yet another term. All this will begin once there is a new council in place. October 28th will tell us who will be sitting around the horseshoe. While ward 1 has a growing number of candidates nominated – not always a good sign, one of them is going to have to come up with a very strong campaign to beat Councillor Craven. If there is an upset in ward 1 – it will stun most people, but elections are funny things – ask Cam Jackson.
Meed Ward is a shoe-in for ward 2 unless she pulls the faux pas of the year. John Taylor can’t be beaten in ward 3 at this point. Dennison is in trouble in ward 4 but that community doesn’t yet have the person that can take him down. There is word that Brian Heagle might put his hat in the ring. However, few are betting against the old fox but many want him out of office.
 Councillors Sharman and Lancaster – both newbies and both members of the group that produced the Shape Burlington report that basically went nowhere: will the same be said for these two council members. Lancaster has a field of six running against her, Sharman has a race in ward 5 and Lancaster has a battle in ward 6 – perhaps an epic one for her. With six people running against her – her hope is that the vote gets split and she comes up the middle. Jennifer Hlusko appears to be doing the kind of work that gets a candidate out in front.
The city could have three new council members come the end of October.
Those are the people that will make the decision as to who the next City Manager should be. Keeping someone in the city manager’s chair has been a bit of a challenge for Burlington. Roman Martiuk didn’t complete his five year contract, Jeff Fielding left for bigger and he thinks greener pastures and Pat Moyle is with us as a care taker – a quality care taker, but nevertheless the guy that is keeping the good ship Burlington upright, while general manager Scott Stewart does all the grunt work and Kim Phillips gets ready for her goodbye party.
The best way to understand Pat Moyle is to look at his very extensive municipal experience and use it as a guide as to how he works. Moyle got into the municipal world as a planner after graduating from Ryerson. Much of his experience has been with northern Ontario municipalities His work with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) kept him in touch with the municipal community across the province and because Ontario was he most powerful province, he worked closely with all the other provincial municipal associations.
Moyle was with AMO during the Harris/Eves years when the province downloaded service delivery, but no money to the municipal level. Moyle learned in the trenches how one has to deal with a provincial government that basically turned the tables over.
This depth of experience, especially the time spent at the Region, results in a view of Burlington and its problems that few have and allows Moyle to look for specific skill sets and approaches to problem solving, as he prepares to bring forward candidates for the job of City Manager for Burlington.
There are always internal candidates; Moyle talked of one situation, where there were more than three internal candidates and none got the job. Burlington doesn’t have a tremendous amount of bench strength at the director level and there are a number of people due for retirement.
The work being done by the finance department as they prepare for a Result Based Accountability (RBA) approach to the spending the city does will mean a huge shift – individuals will become responsible – not just a department.
Moyle began his career in the municipal field at the age of 29 in Huntsville, worked at one point for Brampton, where he crossed the path of Hazel McCallion who suggested he spend some time at AMO, where he headed up a board of 80 members representing 447 municipalities. It was invaluable experience.
Moyle has seen every form of municipal organization there is and comments that the structure Burlington has with its 880 employees is the same as that of Toronto. “We don’t need the general managers we have” explains Moyle. The fire department is our largest – why does it have to report to a General Manager, who then reports to the city manager. Expect to see the fire department as a direct report to the city manager in the future.
Almost every senior person you talk to about the city staff, point to a couple of dozen young people, who do sterling work and are technically savvy, innovative and bringing with great ideas.
Is it Moyle’s intention to suggest the city look for a manager that will focus on developing this young talent and move the city to a level of services it has not seen in the past?
Moyle appears to want to create a flatter organizational structure and move much of the responsibility to the line people delivering various services.
”It is important” said Moyle “that we fully understand what the problems we are trying to solve really are”. At the core of it all explains Moyle – staff are there to be of help – to serve. That is the culture city hall needs to have in place.
Moyle remarks on a comment management guru Peter Drucker made: “Culture eats strategy” – get the culture in place and the right strategy will follow.
Burlington is in a state of transformation – it is a city that is going to grow in place. There are few greenfield locations left to develop. He adds however, that there are between 2,000 and 3,000 residential units approved and ready for construction – so things are happening.
Jeff Fielding pointed out that while residential is great for the development community it isn’t the best situation for the city – new residential means more in the way of services that have to be delivered.
The development on the industrial, commercial and institutional sector is where Burlington lags and, according to Fielding, the city shouldn’t expect much in the way of new development from those sectors for 12 to 18 months.
The Burlington Economic Development Corporation finally put a new executive director in place and created a thinner more focused board. They have shifted from an organization that focused on networking, to an organization that is going to get right into the weeds of economic development. But that shift is going to take time – don’t expect to see a “good news” announcement this year.
The tag line for the Official Plan review is: “We are growing in place” – we are going to experience our growth with what we have. We appear to be in a planting the seeds mode on the staffing side and hoping that we get it right this time – a city manager that makes Burlington home – for more than five years.
By Staff
July 8, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
If you want to get it done you go to the guy everyone calls. The fellow that is busy, busy but who somehow always finds the time – and manages to keep his life sane at the same time. Guys like that have a sense of humour and they not only think outside the box – they live outside the box.
 At its annual general meeting, the Burlington Community Foundation (BCF) confirmed the appointment of Ron Foxcroft, Owner of Fox40 International Inc. and Owner of Fluke Transportation since 1982, and Haydn Northey, Vice President, Operations and Chief Privacy Officer, Pioneer Energy, to the board of directors.
2014 is a milestone year for BCF as it celebrates 15 years of strengthening Burlington. Chair Tim Dobbie said he was “ very pleased to welcome Ron to Burlington Community Foundation’s board during our anniversary year.”
Best known for inventing the internationally celebrated Fox 40 whistle – which is officially sanctioned by the NFL, CFL, NCAA and the NBA – Ron was a professional basketball official for three decades. Off the court, he’s also a legend among community supporters – recognized as the 1997 Hamilton Citizen of the Year, 2011 Burlington Entrepreneur of the Year and holds an Honorary Doctor of Law from McMaster University.
The BCF celebrates 15 years of service to Burlington and currently manages more than $8.4 million in assets. Since inception the BCF has provided over $2.7 million in grants to the community – that’s a lot of potential for good for every corner of our community. BCF responds to many of our city’s hidden needs and I’m proud to help advance BCF’s mission to strengthen Burlington, today and for the future.”
  Also joining the board is Haydn Northey, a 28-year veteran of the retail petroleum industry. Currently Vice President of Operations and Chief Privacy Officer at Pioneer Energy, Haydn held leadership roles with Texaco Canada, Imperial Oil and Suncor Energy (Sunoco). An avid hockey and lacrosse coach, Haydn shares, “I’m delighted to join BCF’s board of directors and help connect funds to vital needs across our great city. Each and every Burlington Community Foundation grant truly makes a difference to people’s lives.”
Established in 1999 as a centre for philanthropy, 2014 marks a celebration of Burlington Community Foundation’s 15 years of service to Burlington residents. BCF collaborates with donors to build endowments, address vital community needs and support areas of personal philanthropic interest. To learn more visit the BCF website.
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By Pepper Parr
July 7, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
Late in 2012 we ran a police drug bust story on a 24 year old Hamilton resident who was charged with Possession of Cannabis Resin for the Purpose of Trafficking, Possession of Cannabis Marihuana over 30 grams, Possession of Psilocybin, Possession of Ecstasy, Production of Cannabis Marihuana, Possession of Cannabis Marihuana for the Purpose of Trafficking.
This was a drug trafficker with a significant inventory. We did not follow up on this information to find out if there was a conviction.
Several days ago we got an email from the drug trafficker asking if we would remove the story because it was “causing trouble in my job career as people are Googling my name and I am having difficulty holding a job due to this. Can we please have this removed as I do not wish to pursue this legally and go through the court system as I’m sure you guys don’t wish to waste your time in the courts either.
 Some of the evidence gathered in a drug raid is truly scary – the weapons are very real. This photograph shows drugs in its early form – it gets refined and moved through the supply chain. And make no mistake about these drugs – there is a demand. “It has been over 2.5 year that this event occurred and it would be greatly appreciated if my name and the other names be removed or blanked out. If I don’t receive a reply within the next few days to weeks I will have no choice but to contact a lawyer and take this to court, again I really don’t wish to do this as it would just be a waste of time and money.” The writer provided us with an email address and we contacted him saying we would have our lawyers be in touch with him to arrange for the receipt of any claim for damages he might wish to serve on us.
The young man replied: “I didn’t mean to threaten you in any way, I just wish to have my life back in order. This is creating a huge burden for me, I just wish to have it removed with little work as possible (meaning no lawyers, judges and so on), it’s just a waste of time for everyone.”
There are a number of readers with very strong views on the damage the drug trade does. We sent this along to one of them who came back with:
Too bad buddy. Your name is out and you have to deal with the choices you made in your life; that is one of the consequences of criminal behaviour. Why make a potential employer Google your history; why not disclose your past and try being honest because that is your only hope to fix any damage you may have caused to yourself. Your threats for a potential damage claim are laughable. Drug dealers are the ones that cause all the damage.
I am a parent who has tried desperately to fight off drug dealers for many years in an attempt to save my children from the life destructing effects of the drug world. I hate drug dealers. Through my experience and ongoing education of how the drug world works, I can tell you that drug dealers cater to kids as young as 9 and 10 years old; that is very disturbing. My kid got fed cocaine from an adult drug dealer at the age of 14. That adult drug dealer now knows I know, and he carries that burden wherever he goes out in public and also where he lives; that type of constant feeling of being shadowed by a loving parent cannot be a good feeling, but, it is one of many consequences of being a drug dealer.
There are others, and I believe from personal experience that a parent’s efforts do not go unnoticed by all those active in the drug world. Dealers do not like publicity, so it is somewhat comforting to know that once in a while we get to know who these people are through media and police bulletins. Another method is to go to the courtroom and sit and witness all these idiots get processed through the system; this is all ultimately public knowledge. It is actually quite a pleasant feeling to watch as the names of dealers get exposed.
 When there is a major drug bust the police frequently lay out all the evidence to be photographed and then make the pictures available to the media. It is all part of the regular media work they do, which includes the name of the accused. But it is not easy to find who the drug dealers are and more importantly where the supply originates. I am one of those parents who likes to find out, because I want to know where and why tens of thousands of dollars of my money went as a direct result of these scumbag dealers that lurk amongst the rest of the people in society. It takes a long time to recover from the effects that these dealers bring upon the rest of the world; similar time as this goof now trying to get assistance to hide his past. This will take a long time buddy, and you deserve every minute of your struggle and waiting time. Accept your frustrations now as a bit of payback for your dealing actions. Your other option is to return to dealing; nobody will deny you that type of access to work; you can start today; no Google.
I want this information posted on a billboard at a busy intersection; names and pictures of all the drug dealers. It would be a very good deterrent. I will pay for the billboard. It can be a place where other parents, ones that may not be as active in the fight against this scum, can come to see who these people are that are killing our children. Parents have a right to know who is killing their children.
The writer of the above is a respected professional that we have met. It will be interesting to see if his views are shared by others.
As for the drug dealer – we think he has some work to do to convince the community that he deserves a second chance.
 By Pepper Parr
July 5, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
One evening after a city council meeting a number of months ago, a member of council asked me: “How are your relationships with the members of council?
I was a little taken aback by the comment, because I don’t see myself as having a relationship with any of the council members. I have, on occasion had lunch with several of them, a drink at the end of the day with others but these men and woman are not part of my social circle.
 They are all running for re-election: should they all be re-elected? That is a decision you make – but only if you vote. I serve as an observer of what the seven members of council do and report on the way they handle the city’s business. I was fortunate enough to be able to sit in on all of the 11 half day sessions when the seven of them, along with all the senior members of the administrative side of the city corporation, developed the Strategic Plan.
I talk to the city manager and the general managers frequently and observe how they do their work. A combination of my age, my experience as an observer and the fact that I am the only outside observer who has attended city council meetings, advisory board meetings and most of the workshops held by the city, I have a unique view of the seven people on council and the senior staff. Other journalists cover Standing Committee meetings but none cover the Advisory committee meetings regularly.
Due to a health issue – had to have a hip replaced – I have not taken in the Standing Committee meetings live for the past five weeks but I have watched the webcasts and worked from that footage. There is however nothing as good as being in the room and watching how staff react to a comment made by a council member or how one council member interacts with another.
 One of the most revealing off-camera events was when Councillor Craven slid into the Council chamber, seconds after the vote on a very significant development in his ward. It is very, very rare that Craven misses anything that relates to Aldershot. That just doesn’t happen, but it was politic for him not to be in the room for what is referred to as the Bridgeview development.
Like anyone else I have favorites and work at making sure the likes and the dislikes don’t get in the way of what I do. My objective, and the purpose of the Gazette when it was formed, is to get the very best people leading the city. The decision as to who leads, is made by the people who vote. My job is to inform them, and do so in a manner that includes reporting the facts, putting those facts in context and then analyzing all the material and explaining it in as much detail and as entertaining as possible.
 What used to be 1028-Lakeshore-Rd.-was-demolished-in-1989. Note the second row of cottages in the background, which are-located along the-beach. Will the Beachway decision, made at the Regional level, become an election issue in ward 1? Every time the amount we pay the members of council becomes a public issue, there is a howl about the amount they are paid. Good people are entitled to a decent income; they have no job security and while there are stretches of time, when there isn’t much work to do there are occasions, when these people work very long hours and are expected to make decisions on some pretty weak data.
The members of council have to raise the money to get themselves elected and be careful, just who offers to donate to a campaign. They end up using some of their own money to get the job.
There is a certain amount of ego involved in running for public office; there are those who abuse the authority they have, some spend far too many years serving as members of council, while others fail to realize they are just not cut out for public service and don’t know how to bow out gracefully.
The personal lives of the members of council take a hit. They are on duty 24 x 7 and many feel their member of council is supposed to solve all their problems. One council member was out picking up garbage bags on Christmas Day.
Burlington’s council members are not yet at the front of the pack, when it comes to involving their constituents. The idea that the voice of the community is like electricity – always on and always providing the light and the energy with which council members direct their actions and decisions, has yet to become the norm in Burlington, but we are getting there.
There are members of this council that just don’t like people and are too frequently rude and impolite. We have members of council, who are not advocates of some of the services the city provides, and while they may be necessary and vital to some people – some council members see their personal views as more relevant than those of the people they represent.
Councillors Sharman and Lancaster – both elected to Council for the first time in 2010 and both members of the Shape Burlington group – have either of them advanced the cause of citizen participation all that much? Some council members have grown into their jobs – others have been in their jobs too long. Public life is hard work; there are no courses to take to learn to become a good council member. It is the community at large, that makes good council members by calling them to account and expecting them to represent the core values of the community and to strive to be consistent and do their very best.
 Was the decision to sell a short stretch of waterfront property owned by the city and the province a mistake? Mistakes do get made – it takes a strong person to admit that a mistake was made and then fix as much of the damage as possible, and learn the lesson the mistake offered. This council has yet to show that there is a common purpose that they are collectively working towards – and I have yet to hear the Mayor admit that something was a mistake – an honest one, but a mistake nevertheless.
In the months leading up to the municipal election, we will review and report on what the members of your council have done for you. We will also interview every person that is nominated for office and strive to set out what the issues are for each ward, and what the key issues are for the city over all.
 Has the city got a firm grip on the air park matter? They have won all the legal battles so far, but the decision to hold on invoking a new site plan bylaw, when they learned the air park owner is going to present a site plan, has some north Burlington people scratching their heads. Burlington has some very significant challenges ahead of it. While we a wealthy city with many advantages, we have some major problems in attracting new business to the city; we have an aging population that will require more in the way of funding, and we have an infrastructure that was not properly maintained by previous councils and now need millions to repair roads.
 Approving the six story Maranantha project on New Street was a bold move. Was it the right move? We have several developers, who own large swaths of land, who want to convert much of that land from employment uses to residential, which is much more profitable for the developer but expensive for the city.
By all the standard metrics Burlington should be an ideal place for those high paying, high tech jobs and there have been some brought to the city, but there haven’t been enough of them.
The city finally has a reconstituted economic development corporation, but it took more than 18 months to change the leadership of that organization and hire someone with the depth and understanding needed to entice corporations to make Burlington home.
 Does the word “vibrant” really apply to the downtown core? Is there a lot more hard thinking to be done, to get a core of the city that works? We have a city that cannot get out of the travel by car habit, and a city administration that has yet to come up with the solutions, that will get people on to public transit. This at a time, when gasoline prices climb daily and the province is providing some of the best public transit scheduling.
 Know your ward; know the candidates and make an informed decision – your taxes pay these people – and these people set the tax rate. In municipal elections most of the attention focuses on the election of a Mayor: does the public want the one they have and is there anything better being offered. This year it does not appear that the Mayor is going to be challenged; he should be – he needs to be called to account for some of his decisions and a tough election race will make him a better Mayor if he wins.
Some ward council seats get very competitive – ward 6 is an example this time out, with at least six people running for the seat Blair Lancaster currently holds.
Ward 4 is going to be an interesting race – there are some fundamental issues related to conflicts of interest and this city has to decide, what is acceptable in terms of looking after one’s personal interests before those of the city, as set out in its Official Plan. The community has to make clear, what the core value is.
 The waterfront and the pier were issues in the 2010 election. With the pier officially opened for more than a year – its cost is now the issue – will the voters ask for more in the way of accountability and at least some transparency on how the cost ballooned so much? In 2010 the attention was focused on ward 2, where Marianne Meed Ward wanted to bring her populist approach to city council. Meed Ward used the Save our Waterfront Committee to very good affect as the lance with which she went after then Mayor Cam Jackson. Meed Ward felt the waterfront was not getting the attention it deserved, and that the city has made a mess of its legal problems over the pier. She believed the city could have and should have settled with HSS, the original contractor.
There was a settlement, but not the one the public was told they were going to get.
Elections are about choices. Choices can get made, when people have information and not have to look at the ballot and put an X beside the name they recognize.
We will strive to provide you with in-depth balanced portraits, based on what we saw and heard, of each person running for public office. Your job then is to cast a ballot.
By Pepper Parr
July 5, 2104
BURLINGTON, ON.
It was Council showing leadership and venturing into policy that it has not always been comfortable with.
We are hearing the phrase “big city amenities with a small town feel” which plays well into the mindset of most of the Burlington population.
The legal issues surrounding the air park are certainly big city – we don’t find ourselves in front of the Ontario Court of Appeal all that often.
The property in this photograph has been raised about seven feet – other parts of the air park property have been raised more than 30 feet – all without site plan approval. Last week council found itself being asked to support a Resolution that would have Burlington asking the province to get on with legislation that apparently has all party approval – it died on the Order paper when the election was called.
Should the province enact the legislation – it won’t mean a pinch of difference for the people who face legal claims by the air park and for the average resident who wants to ensure that the school their child will attend has the programs they need and that there will be room on the soccer team as well – the legislation is about as remote as the creation of a Caliphate in the Middle East. Less than 1% of Burlington’s population even knows what a Caliphate is.
But it is nevertheless important and it was time for Burlington to get behind the legislation.
The resolution debated at council last Monday was for the city to urge to province to pass legislation that would prevent SLAPP suits. A SLAPP suit is: “A meritless legal action brought to intimidate opponents, deplete their resources, reduce their ability to participate in public affairs, and deter others from participating in discussion on matters of public interest.”
Burlington had an opportunity to pass such a resolution in the 2008-2009 fiscal year – it chose not to do so.
The SLAPP legislation is a good thing; a very good thing. Ward 6 candidate Vanessa Warren delegated on the issue and gave one of the most stirring delegations I have heard in some time.
It is important enough for the Gazette to publish it in full. Stuff like this matters and Burlington is fortunate to have people like Warren who will fight the good fight.
That it might cost the city a bit of money to support this resolution – we’ve spent much more money for less worthy matters.
Here is what Vanessa Warren had to say:
 Vanessa Warren, one of the three libel suit defendants and perhaps the best delegater this city has seen at a city council meeting, is a candidate for the ward 6 seat – home of the air park. Citizen Advocates have played critical roles in environmental and social protection throughout the post-Kovachik history at the Airpark, and indeed all over our City. In 2008, local residents rallied to stop Vince Rossi’s proposal for an 8000 car auto-auction lot, and then regrouped to stop a 65 m high cell phone tower to be located next to their residences on Appleby Line.
You all know the very recent history at the Airpark, and I think you are also aware of the enormous amount of citizen advocacy that has contributed tireless hours to trying to bring appropriate oversight to the Airpark.
After Justice Murray’s ruling in October 2013 that the Airpark comply with environmental enforcements by the City and Province, there was no cooperation. The seemingly thin legal arguments that were the foundation of the Airpark’s appeal this month didn’t even get the Ontario Court of Appeal judges through to lunch.
That should have been the end of the story, but still, no compliance. Currently, for example, the Region of Halton has hired a consulting firm to investigate the repeated wash outs occurring after rain events on Appleby line, and they are having difficulty getting permission to access Airpark property to complete their review.
However, there is one set of laws that the Airpark does think are valid, and those are Ontario’s onerous libel laws.
Vince Rossi, president of the Burlington Air Park Inc., and believed to be the sole shareholder of the private company, has sued three Burlington residents who spoke out against the development, which he did without the site plan approval the city said was needed. Rossi has since indicated he will seek site plan approval. On April 16th of this year, the Hamilton Spectator published an opinion piece by Vince Rossi, owner of the Airpark. It seemed almost delusional in its attempt to re brand and spin the grim history he had presided over, and was so misleading and insulting that it stuck in the craw of the community that had been under siege for the previous 5 years.
I published a response the following day on my own blog that addressed the information I believed to be specious, point by point. I felt then, as I do know, that the Airpark could not be allowed to advance a glib “business as usual” promotional policy with the wake of so much damage still rocking our Protected Countryside.
I have never lied, I have merely stood witness and tried to not allow a developer to operate in the absence of scrutiny, and as reward, I get to be a defendant in a lawsuit.
 Monte Dennis, one of the three libel suit defendants. David Donnelly of Donnelly Law, and Brian MacLeod Rogers, a leading libel lawyer and member of the Attorney General’s Anti-SLAPP Advisory Panel, are representing myself, Monte Dennis and the RBGC in this case, and they characterize this claim for libel as a SLAPP suit (Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation). SLAPP suits are meritless legal actions brought to intimidate opponents, deplete their resources, reduce their ability to participate in public affairs, and deter others from participating in discussion on matters of public interest.
Ask yourself how many times you’ve seen advocacy bring about great change in Burlington – or prevent deleterious change. Ask yourself what Burlington looks like if SLAPP suits become a useful tool for developers to silence counterarguments. How could we hope to maintain our green space and our Rural North against development in that reality? How do we maintain our quality of life if we are not allowed to speak to it?
Ask yourself what you would do if a developer was trying to silence all-candidate dialogue on a project by gagging one candidate with a meritless suit?
How damaged does dialogue in the public realm become when discussion on critical issues is muzzled because it is ‘before the courts’?
This amounts to corporate censorship.
I am now faced with the real emotional and financial stress of a $100,000.00 claim. We will, of course, be vigorously defending the lawsuit, and I’m confident that we’ll ultimately be successful, but in the meantime my resources will be taken away from the public and political work that I should be focusing on – which is just what a SLAPP suit is intended to do.
It is site changes like this – made without site plan approval, that upset rural Burlington residents who then found themselves facing libel claims for speaking out. It took some discussion for the city to decide to support legislation that would prevent such libel claims. The city hasn’t decided if it wants to ask for standing as a friend of the court when there is a trial – some ask – if there is a trial? This is a deeply destructive force, and it must not be allowed to silence other citizens. Quebec and 28 US States have passed anti-SLAPP legislation to protect their journalists and citizen advocates.
Anti-SLAPP legislation provides speedy redress for civil claims against people engaging in legitimate speech and public participation, as is certainly the case here.
Please unanimously support this resolution tonight so that we can send a clear message to the Province on the need for anti-SLAPP legislation. I would also ask that, as our 7 Regional representatives, you champion this type of resolution at the next possible Regional Council.
In addition to this resolution, I would ask that the City intervene in this lawsuit as Amicus Curiae or Friend of the Court. You, the City, are in a unique position to speak to the context of this case, having been engaged with the Airpark over the past 18 months. This does not require you become a party to the case, but it would help to frame the defense of fair public comment and it would send exactly the right message to your advocacy community, perhaps thawing the ‘libel chill’ that threatens public dialogue and engagement.
Just like in the Airpark dispute, I believe right and wrong are very clear here, and by passing this resolution, and becoming a friend of the court, you can take a strong position on this case, but more importantly, you can publicly acknowledge the role that our City’s great advocacy community plays in our mutual well-being.
 Pat Moyle, interim city manager put the rationale for passing a resolution that supported SLAPP legislation being passed by the province. At one point, in the discussion that followed the delegations, it looked as if there was going to be a little difficulty getting the resolution approved. But after interim city manager Pat Moyle spoke on two occasions, council began to come to the conclusion that this was a good thing to do. And it was – and it was passed unanimously on a recorded vote. There were a couple of Council members who may have had to hold their noses when they stood – but there was no way they were going to be on the wrong side of a Motherhood issue.
During the debate Monte Dennis, one of the defendants said there was fear in the minds of many in the community. Councillor Craven said that in his 14 years as a member of Council he had never heard of any intimidation in the community. The people in the Beachway would beg to differ on that score.
Warren has asked the city to consider participating in the libel court case when it takes place as an Amicus Curiae or Friend of the Court, which was another very good idea, but Councillor Dennison wasn’t comfortable with that idea. He wanted to hear what the city’s solicitor had to say – and that indeed would be interesting to hear. There are arguments for and against seeking standing in a court case as a “friend of the court”.
It would be very interesting to hear what solicitor Nancy Shea Nicol would have to say – it would give the public a sense as to the kind of legal mind she has; something that is not always clear, when she makes presentations – far too many of which get heard in closed sessions.
By Pepper Parr
July 5, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
Interim city manager Pat Moyle told council last week that the most important part of the resolution they passed – unanimously – was the direction for the Mayor to meet with the two newly elected Liberal MPP’s about the city’s desire to see some action from the province on the SLAPP legislation the province has been toying with for a couple of years.
 Mayor Rick Goldring met with the two MPP’s who represent different parts of Burlington. Gives them the Burlington story – but doesn’t buy them lunch. The Mayor got his instruction Monday night – and wham, bam alakazam – he has a meet with the two women on Friday.
 She celebrated a milestone birthday and a week or so later brought an end to seventy years of Tory rule in Burlington. Then she met with the Mayor – we don’t know what she did to him. Eleanor McMahon and Indira Naidoo – Harris both came to City Hall and met with the Mayor for about 90 minutes. The Mayor presented “The Burlington Story” followed by discussion about jobs and economic development; transportation, transit and transportation and where future residential growth will occur in Burlington.
The Mayor presented the resolution that Council passed. Mayor Goldring described the occasion as “ a great first meeting. I look forward to working with Eleanor, Indira and the whole provincial government in continuing to build a healthy, sustainable and prosperous Burlington.
It was indeed a good start. The previous occupant of the Burlington provincial seat managed to go close to a full term without ever appearing before council.
By Ray Rivers
July 3, 2104
BURLINGTON, ON.
If his father had spent more time teaching the son to horseback ride instead of to paddle a canoe, would Albertans have taken more kindly to Justin’s Liberals in Alberta’s two federal by-elections?
 Pierre never taught the kid how to ride a horse. Tough to win in Alberta without that skill. Provincial and federal politics are inextricably linked in Alberta. Though AT ONE POINT governed by the Liberals, the province has chosen other parties since the 1920’s, eventually carving out a reputation as Canada’s most conservative province.
Even before the senior Trudeau’s National Energy Program, essentially a federal tax on oil, served to alienate them, Albertans had mostly decided on the Progressive Conservatives (PC) or Social Credit, a sort of pre-Tea Party political entity that can best be described as conflicted. Edmonton, sometimes called ‘Redmonton’, has been known to have sent Liberals to Ottawa.
So, despite Liberal hopes for a break-through in oil-sand country, the Trudeau Liberals came up empty-handed, and Mr. Harper’s Conservatives won both Macleod (68.8%) and Fort McMurray- Athabasca (46.3%). The NDP were barely visible in either race, though they clearly hurt the Liberals in the northern Alberta poll. That contest between the two major parties would have been much less clear cut had a preferential ballot been used (see my last posting).
 Oil and cowboys – two different demographics. But really low taxes in Alberta. The oil boom in northern Alberta has created a different demographic than that of cowboy country. If there is to be a Liberal or NDP breakthrough, other than cosmopolitan Edmonton, this is the most likely place for that to happen. Otherwise, the Conservatives (in one form or another) will continue to dominate the province. One might be excused for confusing Alberta politics with those of Cuba or even China. There too, the election results are forgone conclusions.
Ontario’s by-elections were a different story, with both wins going to the Trudeau Liberals, including Trinity-Spadina, which Layton’s widow, Olivia Chow, had vacated to run for the mayoralty in Toronto.
Ironically former Toronto Councillor Adam Vaughan ended up replacing her. This represents a significant loss for NDP leader Tom Mulcair, who was hoping to demonstrate national appeal beyond his powerful base in Quebec.
Liberal Arnold Chan cleaned up in Scarborough-Agincourt, in what had been promoted by the Tories as a test case of Trudeau’s marijuana legalization policy. Despite the aggressive Tory campaign on that issue, it appears the dopers were in the majority – or the voters just didn’t care about that issue. Will Mr. Harper finally get the message, one wonders?
 NDP took a huge hit in Ontario by elections. will the same thing happen with their big base in Quebec? By-elections are the best chance the public has to register discontent with a governing political party and its policies. This time around, nothing really changed in terms of the governing party. Liberals are playing well in Ontario but, despite their improved showing in Alberta, they have a long way to go before they can show results in the west. The by-elections indicate that Canadians may be drifting back to a two-party system with the NDP, Green, Libertarian and other parties safely in the back seat.
Quebec is still predominantly represented by the NDP, but will Quebecers shift back to their traditional first choice, the Liberals, if a Liberal government seems in the cards? Quebecers are perhaps the most strategic of Canadian voters, as they demonstrated in breaking tradition to help elect native son Brian Mulroney. They may just be parking their votes with the NDP.
One has to be careful in reading too much into these by-elections given that the PM deliberately called them on a summer-time Monday, the week school holidays started and the day before Canada Day. Why stick around to vote if you can head out to the cottage.
If Harper was hoping for low voter turnout to contain any damage, he got his wish. The best turnout was in Toronto (Scarborough-Agincourt at 27%) and the lowest in the tar sands (15%). In fact just 7% of eligible voters in Fort McMurray-Athabasca elected the MP there.
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. He developed the current policy process for the Ontario Liberal Party.
Background links:
Alberta General Elections By-election Results Chinese Politics By-elections
 By Pepper Parr
July 1, 2104
BURLINGTON, ON.
Hold on there cowboy – you missed one. Or did you just decide this wasn’t something you wanted to talk about?
 Councillor Jack Dennison has served as a member of city council for more than 20 years. In his summer Newsletter Ward 4 Councillor Jack Dennison listed all the things he had something to say about. They included:
Castleguard Crescent
Creeks
Fairview Street
Guelph Line and Fairview Street
Lakeshore Road
Lakeview Avenue
New Street
Washburn Reservoir
Wards 4/5 CAR-FREE STREET FESTIVAL
CITY-WIDE NEWS
Brant Street Pier
City Talk
Election 2014 – Voters’ List
Emerald Ash Borer
New Parking Rules
Online Service Requests
Snow Clearing
REGION OF HALTON
Compost Give Away
Online Tools – Waste Management
Special Waste Drop-off Days
NEWS of INTEREST
Art Gallery of Burlington
Union Gas – Dawn Parkway System Expansion
Summer Fun
Construction in Ward 4
Lakeshore Road – Ward 2 (at Ward 4 boundary)
Snow Clearing – Approval of Additional Services
Waste Management
Burlington Beach – To Swim or Not to Swim
Burlington Fire Department Safety Tips
Barbecuing on Balconies
Outdoor Water Use Program
West Nile Virus
THAT is an impressive list – makes one think that the member of Council is worth the $50,000 plus he gets paid for the city part of his job. Council members get an additional $50,000 (approximately) for the work they do at the Regional level..
 Dennison’s home on Lakeshore Road; a property he wants to sever a slice off of the east side to build a second residence. BUT – there is an item of pressing importance that you left off the list Councillor Dennison – that Ontario Municipal Board hearing related to the severance you couldn’t get at city council; the one that was turned down by the Committee of Adjustment – whose ruling you have appealed – which is your right.
 Committee of Adjustment members, who decided against a request from Councillor Jack Dennison to sever his Lakeshore Road property. It is a little awkward, when as a Council member you are appealing a city bylaw that you swore to uphold, when you were sworn in back in 2010.You appealed the Committee of Adjustment decision and somehow managed to get a date so far forward – May 29, 2014, that many wondered how you managed that – but the process of tribunals has a pace of its own.The members of the Roseland Community Association weren’t happy with the delay but at least the hearing was going to take place well enough before the October election that a decision would be available, before voters went to the polls.
Holy Hannah – what a stunner of a shock to those gathered in the city hall committee room on May 29, waiting for the hearing to begin, when someone from the Clerk’s office walked in to say that the hearing would not take place. The stunned audience asked why not? They were told that a witness was ill. Whose witness, they demanded to know? You guessed it – a Jack Dennison witness was not able to attend to testify.
There would appear to be an abuse of process here. Surely the OMB Commissioner would have been aware of and sensitive to the nature of the impact the hearing would have on the fall election. The Commissioner didn’t even show up – he just advised the city clerk that the hearing was delayed. Delayed to when? At this point we don’t know – but surely it will take place far enough before the election for the ruling of the commissioner to be available to the public? Maybe surely wasn’t the right word?
Background links:
Council member appeals Committee of adjustment decision.
Council member declares a conflict of interest.
Public doesn’t like the smell of a Committee of adjustment hearing
Dennison Committee of adjustment hearing cancelled – yet to be rescheduled
 By Staff
June 30th, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
They are doing it again. This time the identity thieves are using Amazon as the skirts they hide behind.
 We didn’t place this order. We got this notification of an order we are supposed to have placed – we didn’t place any such order. We now buy most of our books from A Different Drummer Book store.
However we have in the past purchased from Amazon and it is conceivable that I might have thought my wife placed an order and I would want to see what was bought.
The moment I click on that link – they have me. They then begin to suck information out of me and, if I am gullible enough, they might convince me to give them credit card and banking information. Once that happens you can almost hear the sound of their sucking money out of your accounts.
If it doesn’t look real – then it probably isn’t. That is especially the case with the internet.
Caution, always caution.
 By Pepper Parr
June 29, 2104
BURLINGTON, ON.
Not a lot being heard about what is happening at the Air Park these days. Other than the damage done to Appleby Line during the May rain storms where parts of the shoulder of the road were washed away there hasn’t been much news.
The Region went after the air park and wanted to know what was being done to manage the flow of water from a site that had been altered without site plan approval from the city. There are reasons for the city asking that a site plan be submitted when the contours and elevations of a property are changed.
 This is the drawing on the air park web site for a heli pad. They report that they are just waiting for potential tenants to sign on the dotted line. When the air park lost their appeal of the decision from a lower court their legal team had to review their options; one of which is to seek leave to appeal the appeal court decision to the Supreme Court. There is some scuttlebutt out there suggesting that Peter E. J. Wells and his colleague Glenn Grenier are no longer “on the case”.
 Glenn Grenier, second from the left, gets an earful from former city manager Jeff Fielding while city solicitor Nancy Shea Nicol and Blake Hurley look on. So now what?
Well if you go to the air park web site Vince Rossi has a notice of his plans for developing a heliport. The following appears on the air park web site:
If you’ve been out to the airport recently, you will notice work starting on the southwest portion of the filed. This area is predetermined as a dedicated heliport area and we’re excited about getting things going on that portion of the field.
Since we started advertising the plans for that phase 2 area, we have been fielding calls from interested tenants, and we are sure that there will be a few helicopters located there soon.
As things develop there, and we actually do secure some tenants we will do our best to keep all informed about traffic and the mix of fixed wing and rotary aircraft.
That is interesting news. The city has pulled together its legal team and is working through their options once the deadline for a Supreme Court appeal has passed.
Given what the city has invested in this file – it is reasonable to expect they will stay the course and do what should have been done five years ago when Rossi was peddling the “we are federally regulated” line that held water for a number of years at both the Regional and city level.
What should give the people of rural Burlington considerable comfort is that General manager Scott Stewart is on this file. Stewart is a bit of a bull dog, he earned his stripes in Hamilton where he was part of that city’s administration. He tends not to take prisoners. H e threw his hat in the ring when the city had to go looking for a new city manager after parting ways with former city manager Roman Martiuk. Scott wasn’t selected – council instead chose to hire Jeff Fielding and while Fielding certainly put a higher level of oxygen in the air at city hall he tended to be a 30,000 foot thinker and relied heavily on Scott Stewart to execute the big picture.
The two worked very well together. With Fielding in Calgary and Pat Moyle serving as interim city manager even more of the decision making falls on Stewart’s shoulders. Moyle will certainly understand the bigger picture and brings his six years as CAO at the Region to the table – but it is Stewart who knows where all the bones are buried.
Expect him to be very smart and very firm. The city probably still has Ian Blue on some form of retainer able to give sound advice.
It is going to be a different game once it is clear the case will not be going to the Supreme Court.
What can the public expect? Is Rossi going to be able to build a heliport that is less than 25 yards away from the driveway of a private residence?
 Is there some additional land assembly that should be done here? Where do the sound by laws come into play here? When Michael Lee Chin flies into his property on Kerns Road with his private helicopter city hall hears about it real quick if the noise is too loud and the necessary accommodations are worked it. The people of Appleby Line deserve the same treatment the good folks over at Tyendaga get.
Our sense is that Michael Lee Chin has a lot more clout than Vince Rossi and if Lee Chin can respect the rights of other, Vince Rossi can learn to do the same thing.
The Sheldon house was built in 1850 on what was then a 200 acres farm. At some point the land was severed into a nice rural lot and the house with a fed pond. The rest is now part of the air park.
The Sheldon house has been there much longer than the air park. If the air park wants to develop their property let them do what every other developer has to do – buy out those properties that are needed for expansion or to be able to comply with regional and municipal planning.
Rossi seems to have decided that he will harass and do work on his property that limits the ability of a property owner to enjoy the rights everyone else in Burlington has with the way they are able to enjoy peace and quiet.
The Rossi development has devalued the property at the edges of the air park. Rossi is doing what slum landlords do – damage the value of property to lower its price and then go in and buy it as a fire sale price.
There are three property owners on Appleby Line who need to be done right by. Let’s see how city hall fights for the rights of these property owners and what it does to ensure that air park development works for the city and not just a developer who has difficulty with the city’s bylaws.
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