 By Staff
April 2, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
A provincial government agency, Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) successfully prosecuted a Burlington refrigeration operator for working with a forged Operating Engineer certificate.
Jeff Bennett of Burlington, Ontario was fined $4,000, plus the mandatory 25% victim surcharge, for a total penalty of $5000, for violating safety regulations under the Technical Standards and Safety Act, 2000 (the Act), by the Ontario Court of Justice in Burlington.
Following an investigation by TSSA, it was determined that Mr. Bennett worked at Wave Twin Rinks located at 1175 Northside Road in Burlington without holding a certificate as a Refrigeration Operator B Class or a Fourth Class Operating Engineer. Mr. Bennett had misled both management and the Chief Operator, pretending to have completed his exams and passing off a forged certificate, purporting to be a Refrigerator Operator Class B.
Mr. Bennett pled guilty to knowingly providing, using and displaying a false certificate of qualification
“This is a serious violation of Ontario’s public safety rules,” said Mike Adams, Director of TSSA’s Boilers and Pressure Vessels, and Operating Engineers Safety Program. “Mr. Bennett flouted critical safety rules, put himself and his colleagues at needless risk, and sullied the good name of power engineers.”
In Ontario, operating engineers must possess valid TSSA certification, which ensures all operators are properly trained and familiar with Ontario’s safety rules. If in doubt of an operator’s certification, contact TSSA toll-free at 1- 877-682-8772.
The Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) is Ontario’s public safety regulator mandated by the Government of Ontario to enforce provincial safety regulations and enhance public safety. Throughout Ontario, TSSA regulates the safety of amusement devices, boilers and pressure vessels, elevating devices, fuels, operating engineers, ski lifts, and upholstered and stuffed articles. Its range of safety services include public education and consumer information, certification, licensing and registration, engineering design review, inspections, investigations, safety management consultation, and enforcement and prosecution activities. The organization’s vision is to be a valued advocate and recognized authority in public safety.
 By Staff
April 1, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Some people will get taken in by this. If they bank with the Royal Bank of Canada they might click on that link – and that could well be the beginning of a process that moves your money from your bank account to someone else’s bank account.
 What’s the give away here? Look at the address of the sender: rcbroyal – if it were legal it should have read rbcroyal. Also the srvcustom r – spelling error. Most important – a Canadian bank would never, ever send you a notice like this. If you are at all active on the internet – and it’s hard not to be – you need to be vigilant. There are literally tens of thousands of people pumping out phony messages that are intended to steal your money from you.
At a quick glance they look genuine and they catch your attention.
This latest one, purported to come from the Royal Bank is pretty easy to spot as phony but you do have to look beyond the bank logo which is in the message to give you comfort that it is your bank talking to you.
Just pay attention – and you should be OK. Unfortunately, if money does get removed from your account – it will not be easy to get it back.
Background links:
They will go to almost any length to fool you.
 By Staff
April 1, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Starting today, right now actually you have to butt out in any city park. Burlington passed a bylaw in November of 2013 , to ban smoking in city parks and recreation facilities. Exceptions to the bylaw include LaSalle Park Pavilion; Discovery Landing; Paletta Mansion; and Tyandaga Golf Course. Smoking at these locations will be allowed in designated areas.
 A leisurely smoke in a park – comes to an end in Burlington today. Those locations generate revenue for the city.
It will be interesting to see how this works during RibFest.
 Weed rules are bending – expect to smell this at the Sound of Music. The Sound of Music will be different – at that event a different kind of smoking takes place and it looks as if the weed will become fully legal at some point.
The city says its parks will become smoke-free, joining a province-wide movement to create healthier outdoor spaces. . “Like our neighbouring municipalities, we wish to provide a place where people can enjoy their recreation time without the health hazards associated with smoking.”; except for those exceptions – hypocrisy rules!
Hamilton and Oakville put in place smoke-free parks and recreation bylaws in the summer of 2012. According to the Play, Live, Be Tobacco-Free website, 121 Ontario municipalities have adopted an outdoor smoke-free bylaw or policy.
Enforcement in Burlington will be self-regulated and self-enforcing, as it is in many municipalities.
We’d like to hear how that works out; I don’t think I’m going to tell some bruiser of a biker to but out at RibFest and apparently there isn’t going to be a bylaw enforcement officer roaming around to do any enforcement.
 By Staff
March 31, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Burlington, Ont., March 31 2014 — The city and Halton Region will begin the final round of ice-storm debris and brush collection beginning March 31, 2014.
Early cleanup efforts in January included brush pick-ups, free debris drop-off depots at Lowville Park and Ella Foote Hall and a suspension of garbage bag limits during regular waste collection.
“The cleanup began almost immediately after the storm as we cleared fallen trees and branches and opened blocked roads,” says Cathy Robertson, Burlington’s director of roads and parks maintenance. “Now, as the weather eases, we can get at the debris that was stubbornly frozen in place.”
 Ice storm brush clean-up dates set. The spring cleanup is a two-part operation in the urban and rural areas of Burlington.
Urban Areas: Halton Region will provide expanded brush collection from March 31 through May 30, 2014. Bulk brush must be placed in one pile no larger than 10 feet long (3 m) by six feet (1.8 m) wide and be no more than four feet (1.2 m) high, with branches a maximum of three inches (7.5 cm) in diameter. It will be collected according to the regular waste collection schedule.
The city will collect larger brush once from all urban streets beginning on Monday, April 28, 2014. Residents are asked to place brush, stacked with cut ends piled together at the curb, by Sunday, April 27, 2014. Please keep branches and brush off roads and sidewalks.
The work will be completed by a combination of city staff and contractors. The urban area collection is expected to take up to four weeks, depending on the volume and size of material.
Rural Areas: The city will collect brush collection in all rural areas beginning on Monday, April 28, 2014. Residents in these areas are also asked to place brush, stacked with cut ends piled together, at the side of the road by Sunday, April 27, 2014. A second group of contractors will finish the rural and urban brush collection in May.
Residents and contractors can drop off storm-related brush debris and chipped material free of charge at the Halton Waste Management Site, 5400 Regional Rd. 25, Milton, until May 31, 2014.
 By Staff
March 31, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
If you were expecting a parcel to get to you by mail – we can now tell you why it didn’t arrive. The Halton Regional Police – 3 District Criminal Investigations Bureau teamed up with Canada Post Inspectors to conduct an investigation into thefts which occurred at the Canada Post Depot located at 1396 Guelph Line in the City of Burlington. The Thefts involved mail parcels which had not yet been delivered.
 Some of the property recovered by police look like Christmas gifts. Suspect released on promise to appear. As a result of the investigation, police have executed two search warrants and recovered stolen property with an approximate value of $8500.
Former Canada Post contract employee, Thomas Edmund DAVIS (32 yrs) of Burlington has been arrested and released on a Promise to Appear in Milton Court on April 16th 2014, charged with the following offences:
Break, enter & theft
Theft of mail
Theft under $5000
Possession of property obtained by crime
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Constable Mark Urie of the 3 District Criminal Investigations Bureau at 905 825-4747 ext 2338 or Canada Post Customer Service at 1-800-267-1177
 By Pepper Parr
March 31, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
There were myths to be dispelled and facts to be shared – and it would have been nice if there had been time to ask questions earlier in the evening. For some reason many civil servants feel they need to take their audiences through all the legislation that is out there to be dealt with – the people in the room at the Holy Lutheran Church on Lakeshore Road wanted to ask questions about the coyote problem Burlington is experiencing.
 Coyotes are territorial, weigh 40 lbs. if they are male and prowl at night. The audience learned that coyotes are very territorial. They tend to mate for life. They have the one gestation period each year – February. Their gestation period is 60 to 63 days and something between 20 to 50% of each litter survive.
Coyotes do not mate with dogs. They will mate with some wolves
 Pups stay with the parents until they know how to hunt – then they find a mate and leave the pack. Both parents raise the pups. Burlington has a population of what are known as eastern coyotes. They are not all that big: females are 30 to 35 lbs,; males 40 to 45 lbs. The Ontario Ministry of Natural resources has a number (21) of coyotes that have GPS collars and can be tracked with their located plotted on a map. The audience was shown a map of a pack that lives in the south Burlington area.
 Orange dots on the map indicates where a pack of coyotes was between March 7 and 14th in Burlington. Known as MISSO14 this pack is tracked by GPS collars. Coyotes sleep during the day and prowl at night looking for food. They have been known to take down sheep, goats and if there is a cow that is injured they will bring that down as well but for the most part they go after mice, they eat berries and will go after wild geese.
They look for corridors they can travel in; railway lines, hydro rights of way as well as the edge of the lake.
Coyotes will not attack – but they will chase. If confronted by a coyote make all kinds of noise and leave the area but do not turn your back on the animal and do not run.
Coyotes have been come habituated in urban communities. John Almond of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources told the audience that a fed coyote is a dead coyote – when fed they stop doing what they do naturally – hunt for their food.
 Coyotes have very acute hearing and can hear mice scurrying about beneath the snow. Coyote is preparing to pounce on a mouse. Coyotes look for places where they can sleep during the day and have a territory large enough for them to find the food they need. The live in packs, but once pups are taught to fend for themselves they leave the pack, find a mate and create their own pack. Territory is critical for them and they don’t welcome newcomers to an existing pack.
They have exceptionally acute hearing and know from sound where mice are beneath snow.
One of the biggest problems with coyotes in urban areas is people. We leave garbage out where they can get at it and some people actually leave food out for the animals.
 Coyotes howl to communicate to others in a pack. When coyotes howl – they are not telling the world they are about to kill something or have just killed something; their howling is a form of social vocalization.
 There was a time when government paid a bounty for coyotes trapped or shot. Coyotes have been with us for centuries. Governments used to pay a bounty to trappers in attempts to lessen the population. That didn’t work. disease and an inability to find the food they need is what controls the size of the coyote population. – there is a pack of them in south-east Burlington that has GPS collars the ministry uses to track them – they can take data from a satellite and know where that pack is at any given moment.
If you leave the coyotes alone, let them be the natural predators they are, don’t feed them – they won’t harm you. Because they are natural predators they see your cat as their lunch. Keep the cat inside at night.
 By Pepper Parr
March 31, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
We all know about insurance. We pay those premiums month after month convincing ourselves that we are “covered” and all too often when a catastrophe occurs we learn – the policy doesn’t cover that. It happens to households and it happens to the world of business as well – and when it happens in the construction industry – it can get messy.
 June 17th – 2013 – It will be seen as a great day in the history of the city. Despite a horrendous cost and new levels of mismanagement by people who are no longer with the city – the pier was a good idea. And if there was ever a messy construction project – look no further than The Pier at the foot of Brant Street. That situation is slowly working its way through the legal system. The next step is mediation – a process that is required before a case can be given a trial date.
Nancy Shea Nicol, the city solicitor has explained that at some point prior to any trial the Court will order that the parties engage in mediation to see if the issues can be resolved. Mediation does not make a determination of the legal rights of the parties; it is not binding and the mediator cannot impose a resolution on the parties. Mediation is a process where the people involved look for a way to see if they can agree on a settlement and avoid going to trial.
Mediation is a way to keep differences out of a court room. People involved in legal disputes – and in the pier situation there are five law suits – are required to at least attempt to mediate that dispute. It is useful to look at who is suing who:
Harm Schilthuis and Sons Limited (HSS) vs. City of Burlington
City of Burlington vs. Zurich Insurance Company (Bonding Company for HSS)
City of Burlington vs. HSS, EFCO, Aecom, Lombard, PV &V, Craneway (Insurance Claim)
City of Burlington vs. Aecom
HSS vs. Lombard, PV &V, City, Craneway (Insurance Claim)
What is instructive here is that HSS, the original contractor, is suing their insurance company and their insurance broker. You sue when you believe the service you bought was not delivered. HSS is also suing the city of Burlington – they believed they delivered and that the city has not paid for what was delivered.
The city is suing Zurich insurance – they are the company that provided the performance bond the contractor, HSS, was required to put in place.
 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. The city called that performance bond, arguing that the contractor had not completed the job. The insurance company, Zurich, came back with a proposal to complete the pier – albeit at a higher cost – which the city didn’t like the look of and they declined the offer – pretty quickly it might be added – and went looking for a new contractor which they found, hired and paid. In June, 2013 the pier was officially opened.
 Steel beams that had been installed, found to be flawed were taken out – they sit in the construction yard at HSS The contract to build the pier was awarded in the summer of 2006. A new council was elected to office in October of 2006. Then there was the crane accident: August, 2008, during the first concrete pour, one of the main steel beams supporting the deck twisted. Two weeks later, a crane capsized onto the pier.
Fast forward to December 16, 2009, when HSS notified the city, in writing, that it was unwilling and unable to complete the pier construction contract. HSS then filed a construction lien against the city and issued a statement of claim in January 2010 – the gloves were off.
The city said at that time that it had a plan of action to complete the pier in a fiscally responsible manner and notified HSS’s bonding company, Zurich Insurance that HSS was in default. The city’s first recourse is to give the bonding company an opportunity to remedy HSS’s default and to follow the procedures as set out in the performance bond issued by the bonding company in favour of the city. Cam Jackson was still Mayor of Burlington at this time.
On June 18, 2010 HSS published a full-page advertisement in the Post to tell its story. The city issued a statement saying the “confidential, without prejudice discussions referred to by HSS,” in the advertisement, “contained significant new costs, which were not acceptable to taxpayers in the opinion of City Council, and additional conditions, which went against the advice of our legal counsel.”
The argument moved to a “he said”, “she said” stage where HSS said the company had not been paid by the city for invoices it had submitted and the city said it had already paid HSS $3.9 million of the total $6.5 million construction contract amounting to 60 per cent of the original contract.
 This Council didn’t create the pier problems – but they did manage to drop the ball on more than one occasion when there were opportunities to limit the financial damage. October 2010, a new city council gets elected; Cam Jackson is no longer the Mayor but the council still has three members, John Taylor, Jack Dennison and Rick Craven who were on council when the original contract was awarded.
In April 2011, the city received a proposal from Zurich Insurance Inc., the HSS bonding company, to settle the construction of the pier issues.
On May 11th, City Council, in a closed session was given an update on the proposal.
On May 24 city council decided not to consider the proposal. The public was never told what the proposal was or the reasons for rejecting it. We do know that the proposal did require the city to put more money into the construction of the pier but the public was never told how much more.
On September 26 council voted to hire Graham Infrastructure of Mississauga to complete the Brant Street Pier.
Graham Infrastructure’s bid was for a total contract price of $6,429,700, including full HST. Two optional items—a beach access ramp and additional concrete work for the waterfront promenade in Spencer Smith Park—were recommended for inclusion in the bid, bringing Graham Infrastructure’s contract price to $6,713,330.
The total project cost, including the nearly $5.98 million spent to date, would total $14.44 million.
 The city made the most of what will be seen as an historic occasion; the youth of today lay their hands on the pier plaque on opening day. On June 17th, 2013 the pier at the foot of Brant Street was officially opened.
But that is far from the end of the story. The pier ended up costing a lot more than anyone expected. The original contractor, HSS, has bills they sent the city before they left the construction site and which the city had approved for payment. But once the law suits were issued – everything was frozen. There were also invoices from the contractor that had been submitted but not yet approved. Those are still outstanding and the city is doing nothing about payment until the court case is settled.
These invoices, collectively are in excess of $1 million. HSS had bills to pay the trades that worked for them; they came perilously close to bankruptcy, which they believe many at city hall would have been quite happy to see happen. HSS has survived partly because the trades they have employed for more than 25 years stood by them and said they would wait for payment. When the court case is settled many believe HSS will be found to have been in compliance by walking off the job, their invoices will be paid, the tradesmen will get paid with interest that will come from the city of Burlington taxpayers.
The contractor, HSS is suing its insurance company and the broker who sold them the insurance policy. Lombard is believed to be the insurance carrier and PV&V Insurance, the broker who sold the policy to the contractor.
 There is nothing pretentious about the HSS operation. A general contractor with a solid reputation known for doing the extras.Henry S sits ay his desk working the numbers. Relationships are the foundation on which business people build trust. Henry Schilthuis, president of HSS, built relationships with his trades people who proved to be strong enough for them to wait for payment for the work they had done.
HSS is reported to have been dealing with PV&V for a considerable length of time and expected their insurance broker to defend their interests with the company carrying the insurance – in this case Lombard. Lombard apparently doesn’t think they have to pay on the policy claim HSS made. Messy.
While the contractor, HSS is unhappy with its broker and the insurance carrier – the city is unhappy as well and is going after the HSS the contractor, the contractors insurance company Lombard and the broker who sold the policy to the contractor PV&V and the project manager, AECOM.
This puts PV&V in a very awkward situation. They’ve got everyone coming after them, which doesn’t do much for credibility.
How does one mediate a mess like that? They look for a very skilled mediator – and the good ones are very much in demand. Finding one for this situation has been a challenge but it appears that a date for a mediation hearing has been set – June 19th, even though at least one of the parties is grumbling about the date chosen. Justice Fitzgerald, the judge handling this file has been pushing everyone on this.
In a document the city released before the mediation date of June 19th was set, the city said 17 days of examination for discovery had taken place which resulted in a considerable number of undertakings being given. An undertaking can be an obligation to find an answer to a question or produce further documents in response to questions.
Some undertakings were not agreed upon and required a court attendance for a determination as to whether or not the undertaking is valid. When one side doesn’t want to release information that is damaging to their case – it often requires a judge to tell them – give them the documents they are asking for.
Someone didn’t want to provide documents – our information is that it was the city that couldn’t find many of the documents and the project manager that seemed to require a lot of time to find documents.
The last time city solicitor Nancy Shea Nicol addressed council in open session she explained that there were another four to five days of examination for discovery and that up to that point more than 60,000 documents had been exchanged. At one point someone realized there was a collection of documents no one was fully aware of – it isn’t clear who it was who had the documents, the lawyers don’t talk about his stuff – they just send in their invoices and toil away.
The public has been asking for an accounting on those legal fees – they would like to know how much had been spent to date. The Post filed a Freedom of Information request asking how much had been spent on legal fees and was turned down by the city. The Post appealed that decision and the matter went to the Privacy Commissioner.
It didn’t take the city long to see the writing on the wall –they released the figures at a press conference on January 30th, – and said $1,349,952 had been spent to date.
 The city had argued that telling the public what they spent on legal fees would reveal some of their strategy. The figures are out and there doesn’t appear to be any harm done. I leave it to you to figure that one out.
The fear of course was that the public would be outraged and demand that the city quit the case. It is a very complex case – the real fear is that the city will settle during the mediation process, have a confidentiality clause put into the agreement and the public will never know just what the settlement amounted to and how much they had to pay out.
Did the contractor really screw up and will his insurance company have to pony up with a big cheque. Did the city provide the contractor with a plan for the pier that had major flaws leaving the original contractor with no option but to walk off the job?
Did the contractors insurance company come back with a proposal that would solve the technical construction problems and cost less than the city has spent so far on legal fees?
Why doesn’t city council walk their transparency talk and inform the public – the people who have to pay the bill when council gets it wrong.
The differences are both financial and technical. There were problems with the design of the pier and there are significant differences of opinion as to what an insurance policy covered and what it didn’t cover.
 Done – all the concrete is down – and the steel beams are holding it all in place. Now the railings get put in place. Earlier this week city manager Jeff Fielding advised council that he and city solicitor Nancy Shea Nicol had met with the lawyers representing the city and outlined the city’s position that was going to be put forward during the mediation sessions – which are not very long – hours rather than days.
The city will put forward its position and set out what they are prepared to settle for. It is not known yet precisely who will do the talking, the person representing the city has to have the authority to agree on a settlement figure. The lawyers representing the city will be in the room.
In the event that the mediation proves to be successful the city is going to have to tell its citizens that there is more money yet to be paid out. The contractor, HSS has a claim that many informed observers see as valid – money will move from city hall over to HSS.
How much money will move from AECOM, the project managers and the owners of TSH the company that designed the pier, to city hall is the question that matters most to this city council. If they can recover from AECOM more than they have to pay HSS – they will look like heroes. And in an election period that will matter.
The mess the city is in wasn’t created by this council – but there were several opportunities to settle the problems that the city took a pass on.
Councillors Taylor, Dennison, Craven and Goldring, led by former Mayor Cam Jackson, were part of the council that got the city into the contracts the city is now defending. The contracts weren’t the biggest part of the problem; it was the management of the contracts that have hurt Burlington taxpayers. When the full story is out – and it will come out – taxpayers will be livid.
Most of the people in the city’s engineering department that handled all the technical issues and the relationship with AECOM are no longer with the city. They have moved on to other municipalities.
 The idea for the pier came from a council led by former Mayor Rob MacIsaac, but he left town and went to Metrolinx, and then on to Mohawk College and has now settled as the president of Hamilton Health Services, the second largest health operation in the province with an annual salary of $542,000. With performance incentives that could rise to $650,000 excluding taxable benefits.
That virtually doubles his 2012 salary ($275,515 plus $47,210 taxable benefits) as president of Mohawk College. That is quite a step form the approximately $50,000 MacIsaac earned as mayor of Burlington. MacIsaac has a five years contract. While at Mohawk he had seven weeks of paid vacation; he gets just six weeks paid vacation with the Hamilton Health Services organization.
Of those who were on council when all this happened, only Mayor Goldring has filed nomination papers for re-election. Taylor, Dennison and Craven have yet to formally file.
 By Staff
March 31, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Each year the province requires municipalities to publish a list of all those who earn more than $100,00 annually. The data is presented as the salary paid and benefits given that are taxable.
Burlington civil servants were given a 1% salary increase in the 2014 budget.
Councillor Marianne Meed Ward brought a motion to Council that was approved asking the city manager to look into the free parking and free transit passes that are given city employees. Meed Ward is of the view that this benefit is taxable and should be treated as such.
The first figure shown after each name is the annual salary, the second is the taxable benefit.
ADCOCK ALAN Firefighter $102,172.28 $487.27
ALDHAM JUDY Field Services Supervisor $104,070.38 $2,225.26
ALLDRIDGE BRIAN Platoon Chief $124,140.31 $649.80
ANTONIOW PHIL Manager of Program Development, Budgets and Contracts $112,680.32 $622.77
AXIAK ROB Manager Facility Operations and Special Projects $105,876.99 $552.03
BAKOS MICHAEL Captain $108,247.81 $571.12
BARRY PHILIP Captain $108,610.77 $573.86
BAVOTA ANTHONY Fire Chief $157,572.65 $1,906.95
BAYLOR MARK Captain $110,816.79 $570.96
BAYNTON STEVE T. Captain $111,727.68 $586.64
BEATTY DAVID N. Fire Chief $105,836.89 $3,409.68
BEDINI CHRIS District Supervisor $105,298.61 $662.70
BENNETT RANDY Manager of Information Technology Infrastructure and Operations $117,305.77 $640.34
BENNITT JAMES District Supervisor $101,209.87 $764.12
BERDAN MICHAEL Transit Supervisor $103,954.97 $456.07
BIELSKI BIANCA Manager of Development Planning $131,198.38 $739.08
BIRCH CHARLES T. Captain $112,490.88 $585.12
BLACK JEFFREY Manager of Field Services $105,641.57 $3,398.73
BOYD LAURA Human Resource Manager $106,215.06 $590.76
BRILLON SYLVAIN Firefighter $100,870.86 $484.09
CAUGHLIN DEBORAH Manager of Council Services $104,747.58 $582.24
CHOLEWKA CHRIS Captain $107,542.24 $564.00
CLARK CARY Manager of Development and Environmental Engineering $109,618.58 $550.80
COULSON ANN MARIE Manager of Financial Planning and Taxation $133,138.56 $702.66
CRASS JOHN Manager of Traffic Services $106,854.96 $599.16
DI PIETRO ITALO Manager of Infrastructure and Data Management $118,340.36 $655.44
DONATI DERRICK Firefighter $101,799.93 $495.31
DOWD TIMOTHY Captain $117,192.97 $585.12
DUNCAN JOHN Transit Manager $120,963.15 $1,069.52
EALES MARK Captain $106,407.96 $559.95
EICHENBAUM TOOMAS Director of Engineering $165,413.29 $877.56
EVANS FRANCES Manager Halton Court Administration $104,071.88 $575.45
FIELDING JEFF City Manager $249,940.24 $8,898.60
FIORAVANTI LEANNE Solicitor $105,949.26 $510.32
FORD JOAN Director of Finance $153,457.30 $838.93
FRYER E. TODD Firefighter $101,929.55 $519.12
GLENN CHRISTOPHER Director of Parks and Recreation $132,997.91 $731.28
GLOBE DARREN Captain $107,508.37 $573.49
GOLDRING PATRICK Mayor $168,155.78 $2,511.56
GRISON GREGORY J. Captain $111,727.66 $585.74
HAMILTON SCOTT Manager Design and Construction $111,514.22 $618.78
HAMMER CHAD Firefighter $101,951.54 $493.89
HAMMOND BILL Fire Training Supervisor $107,840.61 $562.56
HART TIMOTHY Firefighter $103,027.20 $492.49
HAYES DENNIS M. Platoon Chief $127,478.73 $617.46
HEBNER PETER B. Captain $114,146.11 $585.12
HURLEY BLAKE Assistant City Solicitor $134,557.07 $644.83
JAMES MICHAEL Training Officer – Fire $102,489.52 $570.96
JONES SHEILA City Auditor $123,574.30 $664.26
JONES STEPHEN Captain $107,384.25 $550.83
JURK ROBERT Senior Project Leader $105,261.62 $581.57
KEANEY THOMAS Firefighter $100,775.57 $486.09
KELL DONNA Manager of Public Affairs $114,486.31 $630.35
KELLY JOHN Captain $110,246.84 $579.30
KIPPEN MARK Firefighter $100,628.48 $496.85
KOEVOETS MATT District Supervisor $106,906.64 $1,394.19
KRUSHELNICKI BRUCE Director Planning and Building $160,581.87 $891.60
KUBOTA ERIKA Assistant City Solicitor $134,346.99 $644.86
LAING BRUCE K. Captain $111,727.68 $585.12
LAPORTE N. JASON Captain $109,433.52 $571.25
LASELVA JOHN Supervisor Building Permits $103,581.39 $578.01
LONG MARK Captain $114,237.26 $591.85
MACDONALD GARY F. Captain $111,727.68 $585.12
MACKAY MICHAEL J. Captain $111,727.68 $587.71
MAGI ALLAN Executive Director of Corporate Strategic Initiatives $172,840.24 $967.56
MALE ROY E. Executive Director of Human Resources $182,946.28 $1,012.56
MARTIN CHRISTOPHER Captain $108,414.44 $553.46
MATHESON JAMIE Firefighter $100,671.68 $492.84
MCNAMARA MICHAEL J. Captain $112,644.56 $585.12
MERCANTI CINDY Manager of Recreation Services $113,175.87 $568.20
MINAJI ROSALIND Coordinator Development Review $100,370.93 $560.67
MONTEITH ROSS A. Deputy Fire Chief $136,019.93 $1,601.85
MORGAN ANGELA City Clerk $140,406.98 $753.15
MYERS PETER R. Captain $111,727.67 $593.09
NICELIU KENNETH Firefighter $104,681.45 $514.61
NICHOLSON J. ALAN Captain $111,727.68 $585.12
O’REILLY SANDRA Controller and Manager of Financial Services $113,228.22 $591.60
PEACHEY ROBERT Manager Parks and Open Space $111,558.40 $623.32
PHILLIPS KIMBERLEY General Manager $212,612.61 $8,730.36
POLIZIANI MATTHEW Captain $107,950.52 $557.81
REILLY PETER Captain $114,474.01 $589.90
ROBERTSON CATHARINE Director of Roads and Parks Maintenance $146,163.10 $1,304.38
SCHMIDT-SHOUKRI JASON Manager of Building Permit Services and Chief Building Official $135,620.24 $738.61
SHAHZAD ARIF Senior Environmental Engineer $100,995.97 $560.26
SHEA NICOL NANCY City Solicitor $168,958.55 $814.29
SHIELDS LISA Assistant City Solicitor $134,626.43 $638.32
SLACK CRAIG D. Platoon Chief $128,234.10 $649.80
SMITH CLINT Platoon Chief $127,352.17 $649.80
SMITH SIMON Firefighter $100,129.68 $498.05
SPICER MIKE Director of Transit $134,021.48 $708.84
STEIGINGA RON Manager of Realty Services $113,120.85 $618.84
STEVENS CRAIG Senior Project Manager $101,835.28 $570.98
STEWART SCOTT General Manager $217,635.03 $10,462.48
SWANCE JEFFREY W. Captain $111,727.67 $585.12
SWENOR CHRISTINE Director Information Technology Services $163,040.20 $861.42
TAGGART DAVID Manager Facility Assets $111,045.99 $610.32
THANDI JAZZ Manager Procurement Services $101,688.67 $561.61
VRAKELA STEVE Field Services Supervisor $101,325.60 $1,691.68
WEBER JEFF Deputy Fire Chief $139,961.19 $5,933.10
WHEATLEY RYAN Captain $110,407.44 $570.96
WIGNALL T. MARK Firefighter $102,867.06 $512.74
WINTAR JOSEPH Chief Fire Prevention Officer $110,934.32 $621.60
WOODS DOUGLAS S. Captain $112,106.48 $585.12
ZORBAS STEVE General Manager $167,678.00 $923.12
ZVANIGA BRUCE Director of Transportation Services $145,292.33 $775.86
 By Staff
March 31, 2014,
BURLINGTON, ON.
There has been another outbreak of measles that has the capacity to impact people in Burlington.
Persons who have visited any of the following locations may have been exposed to measles:
Saturday, March 22, 2014:
The Queen’s Head (pub), 400 Brant Street, Burlington, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Sunday, March 23, 2014:
Milestones Restaurant, 1200 Brant Street, Burlington, 7 p.m. to midnight
Wednesday, March 25 – Friday, March 27, 2014:
Joseph Brant Hospital, 1230 North Shore Blvd., Burlington
March 25, 7 p.m. to March 26, 9:30 a.m.
March 26, 3:30 p.m. to midnight
March 27, 11:15 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The Halton Region Health Department is following up individually with patients and individuals accompanying them who may have been exposed at Joseph Brant Hospital.
“Measles is preventable through immunization with two doses of measles vaccine,” stated Dr. Monir Taha, Halton Region Associate Medical Officer of Health. “Persons who have measles need to isolate themselves while they are ill and for four full days after the rash first appears. Always call ahead before going to a health care setting.”
Measles starts with cough, runny nose, red, watery eyes, and fever, and after about four days a rash begins on the face and moves down the body. There may be white spots inside the mouth. Measles spreads easily to persons who are not immune. Infants under one year of age, pregnant women, and persons with weakened immune systems can get very ill with measles. Complications of measles can include middle ear infections, pneumonia, croup, and inflammation of the brain. Learn more at www.halton.ca/measles.
If you think you may have measles and need to see a doctor, you must call ahead to the doctor’s office, walk-in clinic, or emergency department. This will allow health care staff to give you a mask to wear when you arrive and take you straight to a room in which you can be isolated. In a doctor’s office you may be given the last appointment of the day.
For more information, dial 311 or call the Halton Region Health Department at 905-825-6000, toll-free 1-866-442-5866 or visit www.halton.ca.
 By Staff
March 29, 2104
BURLINGTON, ON.
The long, cold, snowy winter isn’t over yet – and we are going to pay for it for quite a while.
The Ontario Energy Board has approved a 40% hike in natural gas rates for Enbridge Gas Distribution customers that will take effect Tuesday, boosting the average residential customer’s annual bill by about $400 a year.
Enbridge filed its application for the increase March 12, interveners had until March 17, to get their comments in – the Energy Board handed down its decision March 29th to be effective April 1st. Name someone you know who can get a doctor’s appointment that quickly?
 You will look at that gas meter a little differently now – see it as a black sink hole. The hike is the result of Enbridge running out of its negotiated supply of gas for the winter and having to go to the open market for further supplies.
Enbridge Gas Distribution’s gas supply charge will increase from 12.68 cents per cubic metre to 17.60.
The changes would result in an overall increase of about $33 a month over the next year, according to Enbridge.
Of this $33 a month, about $20 per month relates to costs associated with this past cold winter.
The other $13 relates to the projected forecast natural gas price, both of which will be reviewed again in three months as part of the normal regulatory process.
“Our interim rates take effect on April 1, but customers won’t feel the full impact of the increase right away,” stated a release from Enbridge.
“Virtually all natural gas providers have increased their prices because of increased demand and increased gas prices over this unusually cold winter.”
 They do it because they can get away with it – and we are the fools for allowing it. Do these guys not plan for situations like this? In their media release they refer to the increase as an “interim rate” that takes place April fool’s. Does that mean when the supply stabilizes they will negotiate better contracts and drop the rates? Was having this happen on April Fool’s day a coincidence?
 By Pepper Parr
March 29, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Premier Wynne is going to take part in Ted McMeekin’ s nomination event in Hamilton on Sunday. Ted is the member for Ancaster – Dundas – Flamborough – Westdale who has served as the stand in for Burlington when we need some help at Queen’s Park.
 Ted McMeekin, on the right, supports Karmel Sakran during the 2011 election. Sakran lost but McMeekin won and was returned to Cabinet when Wynne became Premier. McMeekin has solid Burlington roots and one of those whose political pedigree goes all the way back to the days when Bobby Kennedy was running for office in the United States and McMeekin was one of the political junkies that did some of the door to door work to get him elected.
When Burlington was beavering away at getting the funding for the re-development of the Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital – that’s what it was called then – McMeekin was the go to guy.
He wasn’t’ a Cabinet Minister then – Sophia Aggelonitus had that plum but she lost to a New Democrat in 2011. McMeekin however was always there for us.
Last week the MPP for Oakville, Kevin Flynn was made a Cabinet Minster and given the Labour portfolio which means Burlington is now bracketed by Cabinet ministers.
If you listen to the Burlington provincial Liberals they will tell you that Eleanor McMahon, the nominated candidate for the Liberals in the expected any day provincial election that she will become a member of Cabinet just as soon as she can get herself elected.
 Eleanor McMahon, Lineal candidate for Burlington in the next provincial election. Will that be a spring election? As accomplished as Eleanor McMahon is – and she has a very impressive resume (much better than Kevin Flynn’s) there is no way that Halton is going to have two MPP’s and with Ted McMeekin a stone’s throw away that would put a lot of Cabinet clout in our part of the world.
Not going to happen.
That will mean a bit of a change in the way the Eleanor McMahon does her door to door campaigning and morale will slip a bit once the reality of the Flynn appointment sets in.
The ironic part of all this is that it was the cancellation of a gas-fired energy plant in Oakville that is causing Premier Wynne so much grief. And that problem is not going to go away anywhere soon.
In September of 2009 the Ontario Power Authority accepted TransCanada’s bid to build a 900-megawatt natural gas-fired power generation plant in Oakville. Oct. 7, 2010 the Ontario government announced the cancellation of that power plant.
October 6, 2011 the Liberals under Premier Dalton McGuinty hold on to their seat in Oakville.
Oct. 8, 2013, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk pegs cost of cancelling the Oakville gas plant at between $675 million and $815 million. Estimated total costs of cancelling both plants reaches the $1-billion mark.
Kathleen Wynne was a member of that government and sat at the Cabinet table – it is a stretch to say that she wasn’t fully aware. It will be a struggle for Wynne to continue to form the government. The budget that is scheduled for some time in the spring will tell the tale. If the Liberals can give the New Democrats what they will demand for their budget support, Kathleen Wynne will live another day and have time to re-build the close to decimated support the Liberal government once had.
Given enough time she has a chance – unless of course there is yet another scandal.
Meanwhile the Burlington Liberals press on with a good candidate in a tough situation.
 By Pepper Parr
March 27, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
They are sometimes called “issue” politicians; people who had an issue with city hall and fought back to make something happen and went on to serve their communities very well as city councillors.
These “issue” politicians tend to have had some experience with local groups where they were one of the hundreds that serve in the trenches making thee wheels go round.
 Angelo Bentivegna expects to be a force if he is elected to city council. His learning curve will be steep. Angela Bentivegna is an issue politician.
An immigrant to this country, he arrived in 1957 and lived in Montreal, in a less than tony part of town, where he started working at the age of 14 selling newspapers at a nickel a copy outside the old CN yards.
He got a job after that in a restaurant, completed high school, where he met the woman he married and has been married since 1978. The two of them attended McGill University at the Faculty of Education; they both wanted to be teachers.
Bentivegna has been fortunate enough to find mentors; people who saw his capacity and his energy and developed his skills in the operation and management of different kinds of restaurants. He managed restaurants, opened up new locations for the Victoria Station operation as well as Kelsey’s where he was the owner of a franchise.
 Angelo Bentivegna tends to look people in the eye and listen carefully. When Cara bought out all the Kelsey franchises – Angelo found himself with a decent cheque in his pocket and an opportunity to strike out on his own. “I always liked the idea of working for myself and this was the time in his life when he could do that.” He said.
The restaurant business was the one thing he knew very well; he knew everyone in that business, which he explains is “really a very small community.”
Angelo and his wife both graduated as teachers – she stayed in a classroom, he roamed North America for different restaurant organizations. Angelo and Diane lived through all of the recessions – he can name every one of them.
With a strong restaurant management background getting into retail selling products that were a part restaurant business was a natural – they opened their first shop in 1991 on Fairview –and have been in that same plaza location ever since.
Bentivegna learned to roll with the changes in the retail world. They started selling cooking utensils and as consumer demand shifted – they shifted. Today the Mrs. B’s Gift House focuses on gift packages and biscotti baked daily.
In TEAR Diane, Angelo’s wife, thought there was something wrong with a consistent itch she had in her chest. The Bentivegna’s were fortunate – early detection resulted in surgery that rid Diane of the disease. The family was grateful and wanted to do something for the community; they decided they would purchase a Digital Mammography Unit with Biopsy attachment for the Joseph Brant hospital – price $450,000 which didn’t seem to deter the family. They organized their event, sold tickets, found sponsors and thought things were going just fine when they ran into a brick wall at city hall.
 If Angelo Bentivegna is elected to city council he will either have to get up very very early to make the biscotti – or this city will just have to go without. Beauty and the Bistro, the name of the fund raising event, was set up so that every penny went to the fund to pay for the Digital Mammography Unit with Biopsy attachment – nothing, not a dime, was paid to anyone. Angelo scrounged support from everyone he knew and in the restaurant world – he knew everyone. Ten restaurants were lined up to serve small portions of food at a gala event where the tickets were priced at $50 – “We wanted every to be able to afford to attend”, said B
He got a party tent supplier to help out, “borrowed 1200 glasses, table cloths – you name it and Angelo B found someone to ask to donate what was needed.The event was to take place at the Leggat automobile showroom on Fairview. That location was not zoned to hold banquets, which B wasn’t aware of but didn’t see as a problem.
The Mercedes-Benz dealership on the North Service Road was used for two fund raising events so B didn’t think he had a problem. That changed when he started trying to get some help at city hall. Angelo couldn’t believe what he was hearing – why not?
He recalls one day when he asked city hall receptionist if the Mayor was in – he wasn’t. None of the councillors were in either but he did manage to get through to the administrative assistant for Councillor Craven and she said she would help.
City planner Bruce Krushelnicki learned of the problems and help Angelo work his way through the complex process of getting a change in the zoning for the Leggat site on Fairview.
It took an appearance before the Committee of Adjustment to get a minor variance and an appearance before city council to get a $420 fee waived. Angelo B got his permits and the city got a new bylaw that meant no one else would have to go through the same hoops ever again. Bylaw 2020-327 solves that problem
Angelo found getting information and clear direction at city hall confusing and frustrating – he didn’t think it was supposed to be that hard and around last Christmas began to think in terms of running for a seat on city council and working towards bringing about a change.
 People can expect to know just where Angelo Bentivegna will stand when there is an issue to be addressed. Angelo Bentivegna is certainly persistent. While he apparently didn’t understand the rules and there may have been a touch of impatience when he was at the counter at city hall he kept at it and finally found someone who would help and eventually got what he needed for his charitable event.
In an early draft of the platform Angelo Bentivegna is going to run on he says he is:
Passion, persistence, and productive, that’s who I am.
I listen…. We come up with a plan and we get to work.
I will have no excuses…and will admit when I need help.
I will commit 100% of my time as a full-time Councillor.
Expect this from me: One voice, one ward, our community, our great City….that is what I will embrace.
The challenges for ward 6 as Angelo Bentivegna sees them are:
The Airpark on Appleby Line. He doesn’t have any plans as to what should be done with the property once the various court appeals have been heard. He has begun to make inroads with the people who are directly impacted by the air park however B lives south of the 407/Dundas divide.
Many feel that it is time for someone who actually lives in the rural part of the city to sit on city council but B thinks he can overcome that problem by reaching out and being available to people. He is very critical of the practice Councillor Lancaster had of holding her ward events at the Air Park.
Transit is a stated issue but there are no policy outlines as to what he thinks the solutions are nor does he define the problem. The city’s aging population and the needs of our young families that need more programs for young children are subjects B wants to focus on – but nothing specific here either.
Ensure that we save the lakefront but no suggestions as to what should happen to the Beachway.
There isn’t a motherhood issue that Angelo B doesn’t touch on in his campaign outline. “We need to protect where we live, work, play and how we grow in the future”, is the clarion call.
Angelo Bentivegna has had his share of recognition for his community work. He was a finalist for the Business Excellence Award given by the Canadian Italian Business Professional Association. “I lost out to Angelo Paletta and I can live with that said Bentivegna
He was recognized by the Chamber of Commerce and awarded the Mayor’s Community Business Service Award in 2011
Add to that the:
Chamber of Commerce award winner of Best Retail/Wholesale Business. -2001
President’s Award for Burlington City Rep Hockey Club – 1991
President’s Club Award – Victoria Station Restaurants – 1979
President McGill University Student Faculty of Education-1976
His most recent community initiative is Chair of “Beauty and the Bistro”, a community wide, three-year fundraising initiative to purchase a Digital Mammography Unit with Biopsy attachment for Joseph Brant Hospital.
Angelo is a member and supporter of the “Gift of Giving Back” the largest community initiated food drive in Canada led by Jean Longfield one of the Directors of the Burlington City Rep Hockey Club.
Welcomed fans and guests during the OHL Memorial Cup 2011 twelve day event, managing and co-coordinating “Hockey House” activities from beginning to end at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga for the St. Mike’s Majors.
-Initial Charter Member of Lion’s Club Foundation for Guide Dogs in Oakville…’09
Burlington City Rep Hockey Club – Vice President… 94-present
Burlington Cougars Jr. A Hockey Club Executive 2001-2003
Burlington Tourism Supporter..08-present
Parent Council and later President of Notre Dame Catholic H.S. Parent Council 1991-2001
Created a WinterLude Fundraising Program for Notre Dame High School raising funds for computers and the library program 1991-2001.
Involved as Parent Liaison on Strategic Planning Committee with Halton Catholic District School Board 1991-2001.
Volunteer for the CIBC Run for The Cure Hamilton Burlington Chapter.
Angelo B appears to have touched all the bases – can he reach out far enough to touch the hearts of the people in ward 6. It should be an interesting race. There is an additional candidate running in ward 6, Jim Curran with a fourth candidate expected to declare early in April.
 By Staff
March 27, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
On Wednesday March 26th shortly before 11:00 am, a citizen reported seeing a suspicious white truck and a male going door-to-door along Teal Drive in Burlington.
Police converged on the area and located a residence which had been broken into and a laptop was stolen. A search of the area failed to turn up the white truck or suspect however the stolen laptop was located and appears to have been discarded by the suspect on Tanager Avenue.
Several witnesses reported seeing the male running through numerous backyards and into the passenger seat of the white truck on Partridge Drive which then took off at a high rate of speed.
No description was obtained for the driver of the white truck however the suspect in the entry is described as a white male in his 20’s wearing a hat, navy blue and black puffy knee-length jacket, black pants and white running shoes.
Police are seeking assistance from area residents who may have information and/or surveillance cameras which might assist in identifying the suspect and/or the suspect vehicle and its’ driver.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Constable Mark Urie of the 3 District Criminal Investigations Bureau, Residential Crime Team at 905 825-4747 ext 2338.
Alternatively, anyone with information on this or any other crime can anonymously call Crime Stoppers at 1 800 222-TIPS(8477), through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.com or by texting ‘Tip201’ with your message to 274637(crimes).
Burlington is clearly a city with citizens who notice suspicious behaviour and report it to the police quickly.
 By Ray Rivers
March 26, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Canada is held up as a model for how to run elections – we are recognized as having the best electoral system anywhere – and 85% of Canadians also thought our last federal election was perfectly fair. So why has the government introduced their so-called ‘Fair Elections Act’? And why is this Bill getting panned/dumped on by just about everybody, including a national newspaper and some 150 political scientists around the world?
 Raid on Conservative Party offices” Elections Canada wanted data. For one thing the process is flawed. Everyone knows that the PM has been engaging in a war with Elections Canada – ever since they nailed him on his party’s in-and-out funding scandal. Why would anyone expect him to be impartial? Shouldn’t something as important as changing our electoral process be managed by an independent body, rather than at the whim of one of the political parties? Why were there no consultations prior to introducing the Bill – not with the other political parties, not with the public and not even with Elections Canada, who might know a thing or two about elections?
Elections Canada’s mandate currently includes encouraging more people to vote. We understand that democracy works best when more citizens are involved. But this Bill would diminish that objective and further suppress voting by removing ‘vouching’, which was used without issue by thousands of voters in the last election. The government claims ‘vouching’is problematic, and there may be better ways to assist those without adequate ID to secure their right to the ballot box. But just excluding voters without adequate identification is throwing out the baby with the bath water. And, critics say the minister proposing this change is wrong – hasn’t done his homework.
 Not terrible numbers – but they should be higher – 70% across the country. Some nations, like Australia, legally require their citizens to vote; why would we want to do anything to suppress voting, to discourage people from exercising their franchise? If one wants to vote in Australia and isn’t carrying the right identification they can just swear an oath and declare their right to get a ballot. Further, shouldn’t we be finding more inclusive ways of voting, like internet voting to facilitate and enable more of our youth to participate in the democratic process? We do internet banking don’t we? Surely, we can manage the process of issuing secure ‘pin’numbers.
For a number of years Canada’s official political parties received direct public funding, the amount dependent on how well they had performed in the previous election. This reduced the influence of money, and the power of wealthy contributors, in shaping government policy. Germany, Sweden, Israel, Australia, Austria and Spain are among the growing number of countries with public funding, now representing over half of those with elected democracies. US presidential candidates may elect for public finding. And just to be clear, note that we subsidize political parties with the public purse anyway – through tax-deductible donations.
Mr. Harper, when leading his minority government, eliminated corporate and union funding and reduced the individual contribution limits to $1000, keeping his earlier election promise. And it was relatively easy for him since the Conservatives are more effective at attracting individual donations than the other parties. Then, after gaining his majority, he cancelled the public funding program to solidify his private funding advantage. And the new Bill would raise that individual donation limit by a whacking 50%. The Bill, for some bizarre reason the government has difficulty explaining, also exempts political parties from spending limits for fund-raising activities.
 The report had to be one of the most embarrassing for a democracy For something labelled Fair Elections Act, the Bill fails to improve fairness in any meaningful way, such as giving Elections Canada the power to investigate political parties and compel testimony of those suspected of committing transgressions. This limitation came to light with the Robocalls scandal, in which the Tories were also implicated. To make it even more difficult for irregularities to be uncovered and those guilty penalized, the Bill shifts that responsibility to a partisan minister (attorney general), and muzzles the politically impartial Elections Canada which reports to Parliament as a whole.
And wouldn’t something called Fair Elections deal with the unfairness of the first-past-the-post (FPP) system in our problematic multi-party environment – one that enables a PM winning less than 40% of the popular vote to rule the country at his/her pleasure for a full unfettered four years. New Zealand, Germany and a host of other nations use a proportional electoral system, where some of the MPs are chosen FPP and the others appointed by the relevant political parties based on their share of the popular vote. The results for these nations have been generally positive with less violent swings in public policy.
 The Green Party and NDP are big supporters of proportional representation. The Liberals are promoting a preferential system that would ensure future governments are elected by at least half the voters. Toronto city voters may use a similar system in this year’s mayoral election. Voters would rank candidates, and the second and third choices of the lowest scoring candidates would get added to the highest scoring candidates’tallies – until one has emerged with over 50% support.
 It is about one person, one vote by an informed voter. In the end, democracy is about representing the public will. It is unfair to be subjected to the ideological whims of a political party, be it right or left-wing, which came to power with the support of less than half of the electors, let alone 38%. Fixing that irregularly would be a worthwhile endeavour. Otherwise, calling this Bill the ‘Fair Elections Act’is a huge misnomer. It is nothing more than a crude attempt to break and handicap what seems to be working just fine.
Background links:
Fair Elections Act Elections Canada Implications More Implications Ranked Voting Conservatives Muzzling
Elections Act Critics NDP Tour on Elections Act Kill This Bill Government Strikes Back Voter Fraud Real Problems
 By Staff
March 25, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
You will soon no longer have to call your council member to complain about pot holes on your street.
 New city service: located on the city website. The city is currently testing a software application that will be on the city’s web site that will allow you to report a pot hole, get a confirmation that the report was received and then get a notice telling you the pot hole has been fixed.
AND you will be able to go to a map and see all the pot hole reports that have been submitted and what their status is. That should be a very busy map.
Deb Caughlin, E-GOV project manager sat before the city’s Development and Infrastructure committee and explained how this website application (they call it a widget) was going to work – and then made the mistake of trying to go live on-line and show council members how cool this was.
The demo had clearly not been fully tested – it didn’t work but Caughlin assured council that the thing did work – it was currently in the testing phase.
 Form you use on-line to report a pot hole. Pretty simple. When testing is complete you will be able to see the report you made on a map as well as get a notice that your report was received and then a report when it has been fixed. City reports that there have been 440 reports of pot holes made so far – all by telephone or email. Burlington has made a significant commitment to pushing as much as possible in the way of city hall interaction on-line. It is easier for the public and requires next to nothing in terms of day-to-day staff time. The initiative is one the city bought – $16,000 for the initial year – less for following years.
The service can be modified to be used to report sign problems, street lights and traffic lights.
 This is the report you get back just as soon as you send in your pot hole report. What if a bunch of high school students decide they want to flood the system with prank reports – the system is designed to spot when excessive traffic is coming from a single computer – which will make it difficult for that senior who has nothing better to do than pester city hall while they do their civic thing.
There will be glitches – but it’s a neat idea. Right now you can go to the graphic on the home page of the city website – click on the image and you get taken to the widget.
At this point all you can do is report a pot hole. Staff expects to have the testing and staff training done by the end of the first week in April and go live shortly after that.
You are asked for an email address – if you don’t give one – you can’t get a notice that the pot hole has been fixed.
 This is a sample of the kind of map that you can log into to see how your pot hole is being taken care of and also just how many there are being fixed and their status. Users will be able to zoom in and zoom out of the map. Playing with this should keep some people up very late. We will let you know when the service is fully operational – meanwhile you can report pot holes now.
The service is being built to operate on Smart Phones as well. The service SEE, CLICK,FIX is being used in city’s across North America. If you are in a city that has the service you will be able to report pot holes there as well. We can’t wait to learn that Hamilton is using the service. Mains Street west is brutal.
 By Staff
March 25, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
The Halton Regional Police Service is reaching out to the public to assist in identifying a suspect involved in a bank robbery.
Just after 10:30 am this morning, Tuesday March 25th, 2014, a lone male entered the CIBC Bank at 575 Brant Street and demanded cash.
No weapons were seen on the suspect or observed by bank employees. No one was injured.
The suspect was given a quantity of cash and he subsequently left the bank last seen walking northbound on Brant Street.
 Suspected bank robber at the tellers wicket. No one was injured – cash was taken. Suspect Description:
Male, white
40 to 50 years of age
Approximately 5’10” to 5’11″”
Large build, 200 lbs
Wearing blue jeans and a black hoodie underneath a plaid coat, dark sunglasses and a black ski mask with a baseball cap.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective John Ophoven, 3 District Criminal Investigations Bureau at 905 825-4747 ext 2343
 Bank robbery suspect captured on security camera walking towards the tellers. Anyone with information on this or any other crime is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1 800 222-TIPS(8477), through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.com or by texting ‘Tip201’ with your message to 274637(crimes).
This is the second bank robbery in Burlington within the last three months. In January the Bank of Montreal was held up by a lone male bandit. Police dogs were brought in but the scent was gone. No arrest was made yet for that robbery.
Background links:
BMO on Brant Street robbed in January.
 By Pepper Parr
March 25, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
There was a lot of energy lost, a lot of huffing and puffing as well as a lot of sometimes silly back and forth taking place yesterday at city council.
The Official Plan review is producing document after document which some members of council are finding it hard to keep up with.
The Planning department had distributed copies of two very significant reports; one was the final Phase 2 of the Employment Lands study and the other was a Commercial Strategy Study, it came in two parts, Phase 2 and Phase 3 reports.
Consultants were on hand to take council through the documents and we will report on what they had to say in a follow up report. Several members of Council commented that “these were weighty documents” and they needed time to fully understand and appreciate what was in the documents – and the contents were significant.
The team developing the documents that the public gets to see as part of the Official Plan Review has not produced very much on their progress – they have been busy getting the documents ready for distribution.
 During the phase the planners are in they hope – and they do have their fingers crossed, to achieve the following. Expect some slippage on the schedule – which is not necessarily a bad thing.
- “Full Launch” of engagement strategy
- Implement approved workplan
- Engage on the collective vision for the city and potential directions
- Gain deeper understanding of issues, questions and opportunities
- Identify and assess emerging directions to inform policy development
 Ward 3 Councillor John Taylor is all smiles here as he waves three reports that were given to council yesterday; he wasn’t all smiles when he fumed at the overload and the time he wasn’t being given to read and absorb the content. Other council members said they too needed more time. Several council members were overwhelmed with the content and wanted more time to review the contents. The problem is that the OPR team is running up against problems with the calendar.
Council members want more time to review the documents; they also want to meet in what they call a Workshop setting where they can ask the consultants all kinds of questions and do what in the recent past has proven to be some very solid interaction where members of council learn and fully understand what is in the consultant’s reports.
- The Official Plan Review team has a huge task on their hands and they have to juggle a number of research projects at the same time and manage to find time for real public engagement. The above sets out the projects that all have to be eventually pulled together to create what will become the city’s official plan for the next five years.
Traditionally, staff transmits documents to council that are then in the public domain. The Planning department then prepares its report on the consultant’s document and then that report – the one written by the planners – is debated at a council Standing Committee meeting.
This Council wants to change that approach. They want to hold a workshop at which they discuss the consultant’s report with the consultants in an open session. The Planning staff would take part in the workshop.
Then, after getting a sense of where the members of city council are going with their thinking – planning staff would write their reports that would include recommendations that council would debate and accept or reject.
The calendar and the time schedule that the OPR team have to work with is going to make this very tight. And, there are some professional concerns. The city has a well-paid and very qualified staff (those words came from the city planner – not me) and they have to be given the time to discuss and debate as planners what will work and what will not work for Burlington. The consultants are people we hire, explained Bruce Krushelnicki and we accept or reject what they suggest.
There is a tremendous amount of work to be done and some very hard thinking as well. These two reports are critical to how the city approaches its economic development. And without a significant change in its economic development Burlington as a city has some very real problems.
While the city figures out how it wants to handle the reports the people over at Paletta, who own the biggest chunk of those employment lands know what they want to do. In a letter sent to the city WHEN they said:
Paletta International Corporation (“PIC”), the owner of approximately 120 hectares of land located west of Burloak Drive between Upper Middle Road and Mainway, known as Bronte Creek Meadows (“BCM”). BCM has a long history which is known to many Councilors and Staff.
In their letter PIC disagreed sharply with the direction the consultants reports were going and said that BCM is not “part of a strategic concentration of employment lands”.
PCI said at that time, December 21, 201, that they were continuing to review some of the more technical aspects of the Draft Study but that “even at this early stage it is clear that the draft report is premised on a fatally flawed assumption; namely, that BCM is part of a strategic concentration of employment lands. In fact, BCM has no strategic locational advantages for employment purposes. It has no access to rail, no visibility to 400 series highways and relatively poor access to 400 series highways.
The document went on to say that PCI “has cooperated with the City in marketing the site for employment purposes for many years with no success.
As such, PIC does not support the conclusions of the Draft report in respect of BCM and will oppose any attempt to impose a secondary plan for employment uses on these lands. A secondary plan would be a waste of resources as the lands are not attractive for employment uses. A secondary plan will not change that essential fact.
Also included in the information given to council was a second letter from Paletta dated March 24th, 2014 in which they said they had serious problems with the “methodology and conclusions” used by the consultants. Clearly, Paletta had read the reports and figured out very quickly where there interests were being pinched. Why is it that the Paletta people can read faster than those on city council?
 By Pepper Parr
March 23, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Point: Notices were mailed to all the people in the rural community about a meeting to consider the idea of a special cultural/heritage district, unfortunately they went out a couple of days after the event. Turnout was less than expected.
Point: The city posts all kinds of detail on its website and develops stories encouraging people to consider running for public office – but, for reasons which were never made clear, they took down that portion of the web site that had all the financial returns from the 2010 municipal election.
The financial return is the document that sets out how much money each candidate raised, who the donours were and what the funds raised were spent on. Vital information for anyone who decides they want to run against an incumbent.
The documents have since been put back up on the city website. Why were they taken down and who made that decision?
 Public input on the budget was limited to an overview and a workbook people could make comments in. Point: The city holds a public meeting on the budget the finance department has prepared. While there is just the one meeting held in the downtown core, it is well attended and staff are very attentive in answering questions. There is talk of plans for additional public meetings in 2015 in the Dundas part of town now that the Alton campus is operational.
 The city had very competent staff on hand at public sessions to answer questions – on decisions that had already been made. Vanessa Warren, one of the people who led the public reaction to the dumping of landfill on the airpark site on Appleby Line, asked why the city was coming to the public with spending that was already decided on. She wanted to know why the public wasn’t being asked how it wanted its money spent BEFORE decisions were made.
City manager Jeff Fielding, would dearly love to have feedback from the public on key issues and has devoted a significant part of the budget he has to run his office to a process that he hopes will give him almost instant access to a panel of people who can answers questions. The unfortunate part of this $100,000 + expense is that the public response has not been overwhelming – there were less than 500 people on the panel at last count.
It is a two-sided coin – the public wants information – well the more vocal part of the public wants more information, and the city is being moved in a direction where public input will be critical. Getting to a point where what the public wants and what the city would like is the challenge for the city.
Back in 2010 the late John Boich and former Mayor Walter Mulkewich authored the Shape Burlington report in which they identified an “information deficit” in the city. City hall didn’t take all that kindly to the report – a report on which they haven’t responded to all that well since its publication even though city council voted unanimously to support the document.
 Boich and Mulkewich recommend that there be a Citizens charter – a document that sets out what every citizen can expect from the city. There is such a document but you would be very hard pressed to find the thing on the web site and the “implementation plan” for that document has yet to be completed.
Would it be fair to say that the administration at city hall isn’t really behind the concept of a charter other than collecting data and then doing nothing with it?
There is a demographic divide at city hall – both within the administration and at the council level. There are people in the planning department and over at finance who genuinely want the public to know what is being done and are eager to hear what people have to say.
The city manager certainly wants public input and is delighted when he meets people who can help him determine the public will. However, getting all of his senior team onside has been and is continuing to be a challenge.
There is an item on a Standing Committee agenda somewhere in the works that will discuss the Community Engagement plans; this doesn’t appear to be a priority item but then real community engagement has never been a priority for this city.
Two of the current city council members were on the Shape Burlington committee – one would think they would be chomping at the bit regularly to get some movement on the Citizen’s charter. Both Councillors Blair Lancaster, ward 6 and Paul Sharman, ward 5 have said very little about this during their term of office.
It is going to take a city council with a younger, more committed demographic to bring about any change.
 There are a few, precious few, on council who want to hear what their constituents think and treat those people who write out their delegation and trudge over to city hall and take the time to make their point of view known. Yes, there are people whose delegations are sometimes poorly prepared and on other occasions delivered in a less than respectful manner. But there have been a number of excellent delegations that have resulted in a change.
On many occasions city council is hearing from people who are angry, mad and upset. Their council is making decisions they don’t like about the place they call home. Look at the 250+ people who were opposed to the building of a six storey apartment building on New Street – they just didn’t want to see that kind of change in their neighbourhood. They said they could live with four storey but other than Councillor Meed Ward, who asked some very pointed questions and got mushy answers, no one explained why a four storey structure couldn’t be built.
The city did nothing to educate that public. Sure, public meetings were held but there was not very much that was educational about those events. Usually a planner representing the interests of a developer is explaining what they have already decided to do.
Could the planning department not think in terms of putting in place a process whereby staff review an application and decide at that very early stage if some public education is necessary? Then assemble a team of people who would put together an outline of all the up sides and down sides of the development – cover everything and prepare a public for the change coming their way.
Ken Greenberg, a noted planner was brought to Burlington as part of the Mayor’s Inspire series. He explained how in Toronto developers first went to the community with their ideas and looked for buy in at that level before they put as much as a pencil to a piece of paper
 Greenberg told the Burlington audience that this approach gave the developers a clear sense of what the community would tolerate and gave the community an opportunity to have their ideas seriously considered before anything went too far.
What Burlington is looking for is a way to move forward with developments and at the same time find a way to effectively communicate with the tax payers. We’ve not managed to do that – so far.
But there is hope – the proposal to do something to further protect the rural part of Burlington plans on having very significant community involvement. More about that proposal later.
 By Pepper Parr
March 23, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Denise Davy, a mother who lost a son in a railway crossing accident, became a tireless advocate for change and took her concern about the lack of safety barriers at railway crossings in Burlington to city council. She managed to bring about changes – there are barriers now in a number of places where people foolishly scoot across railway tracks, including ward 4 councillor Jack Dennison who publicly set an example he showed be ashamed of – but apparently isn’t.
 There is now a sturdy fence at this rail line. Davy, a former Spectator reporter, who now runs a writing and editing business, took her cause to the Regional government; she took it to Mississauga and got invited to a Roundtable held by the Member of Parliament for Halton, and also the Minister of Transport, Lisa Raitt. Here was someone who could do something.
Davy understood that she was to be one of a number of people taking part in a discussion about safety features along the railway tracks. She was amongst some pretty important people:
Attending were: His Worship, Gordon Krantz, Mayor of Milton; Andrew Siltala, Senior Manager, Economic Development, Town of Milton; Bill Mann, Chief Administrative Officer, Town of Milton; Jean Tierney, Senior Director, Corporate Safety and Security, VIA Rail Canada; Susan William, Regional General Manager, Central, VIA Rail Canada; Greg Percy, President, GO Transit; Paul Finnerty, Vice President, Operations, GO Transit; Michael Farkouh, Vice President, Safety and Sustainability, Canadian National Railway; John Orr, Vice President, Eastern Canada, Canadian National Railway; Randy Marsh, Manager, Community Relations, Canadian Pacific Railway; Andy Ash, Director, Dangerous Goods, Railway Association of Canada; Brad Davey, Executive Director, OntarioConnex; Eve Adams, Member of Parliament, Mississauga-Brampton South and a Representative from the Halton Police.
 Simple message bearing a lot of the pain that results from a needless death at a place where rail tracks were easily cross. No more at this crossing. There wasn’t a hope in hades that Denise Davy would have ever been able to pull a group of people with the kind of clout this crowd had. Davy saw herself as one of the group and was a little stunned when after a few words from Minister Raitt, she turned to Davy and gave her the floor. It wasn’t what Davy was expecting but she dove into her story, her experience and explained for the hundredth time that education alone does not work – barriers have to be put up – and if those barriers are expensive then we have to find a way to pay for them.
She worked at dispelling the myth that most of the people who lose their lives on railway tracks are suicides – the people in the rail transportation business have words to describe them: deliberates and accidentals. To Denise Davy they are all lives that were needlessly lost.
She points to the way the public safety people reacted to motorcycle people who used to drive without helmets – we passed laws requiring motorcycle people to wear helmets and we reduced deaths. We are in the process of putting in stiffer penalties in place for those who text and think they can drive at the same time. We learned she said that public education didn’t work in those situations and we know it doesn’t work to prevent rail crossing deaths. If it is going to cost money – then we have to find that money.
There weren’t a lot of concrete suggestions thrown out by others; mainly they went around the room and talked about what they’re currently doing, which included everything from public education to putting educational campaigns in the schools.
 A fence that cannot be easily climbed with a notice and a contact number for those under severe emotional stress is now in place at Drury Lane. Now for the rest of the Region and then the rest of the province and then the rest of the country. Davy said she listened and commented then said that the problem was clearly none of the things they were doing are working because people are still being killed.
Raitt proved to want to be more proactive than many expected. She made it absolutely clear according to Davy, that this is an issue for her, that she is concerned and glad that it was brought to her attention and said that it should be included with an overall review on rail safety. She is going to connect with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and Rail Association of Canada and get the conversation going on the issue with them as well.
She also wants to go big with something on rail safety week which is April 28. It was mentioned a few times by various people, that the area around the GTA has the highest number of accidents in Canada.
Raitt gave Davy a printout that listed 29 accidents and incidents in Burlington, Milton and Oakville between 2009 and 2013. The total for Halton for same period was 46.
The tragedy came right to the doorstep of the Friday Roundtable in Milton. Passengers on the Lakeshore West GO line got the following message: Due to a police investigation of a trespasser fatality at Clarkson, train service on your line is suspended between Port Credit and Clarkson until further notice.
Davy had not seen the message as she was preparing to drive from Burlington to Milton for the Roundtable. “That is unreal. How many more people have to die before something is done!!! My heart is breaking reading this.” All the pain, the grief, the sorrow and the hurt came flooding back and the realization that the anniversary of her son’s loss was less than a week away.
Trooper that she is, Davy attended the meeting and left with a platform created for her by the Minister of Transport to get the message out. The matter of rail crossing safety was not on the agenda said the Minister – and added that “it is now”.
 Denise Davy rests a little easier knowing that fences like this at places where rail lines were once easily crossed might eventually get put up across the province. Raitt is planning something for the week of April 28th – Rail Safety week in Canada. The rail car disaster in Lac Megantic is the high-profile event – but Denise Davy now has a platform she can work from. She said after the Roundtable: “ I know change can’t come right away and the fact that I was given a platform to speak to such high level officials who are in a position to make change was a huge step forward.”
“The main thing” said Davy is “to watch where it goes from here. I am going to plan something for April 28 and told everyone in the room I would be open to working with any of them to do something on that date.”
Before Denise gets to April 28 – she first has to deal with March 27th.
Background links:
Single citizen get rail crossing safety improved.
Rail crossing deaths brought to attention of council.
 By Staff
March 21, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
In the early morning hours of March 21st 2014, The Halton Regional Police, Burlington Strategic Support Team (SST), concluded a drug trafficking investigation that resulted in three arrests and the execution of a Controlled Drugs and Substances Act search warrant at a Burlington residence
Seized as a result of the Investigation:
323 grams of marihuana (approximately 11.39 ounces/ 0.71 pounds),
1/2 gram of Cocaine,
The drugs have an estimated street value of $2600.00.
The following persons have been charged:
Gary DEAN (22 yrs) of Brant Street in Burlington (Held for Bail)
- Trafficking a controlled substance (marihuana)
- Possession of a controlled substance (marihuana) for the Purpose of Trafficking
- Possession of a controlled substance (Cocaine)
- Breach of Probation
- Breach of Recognizance
Colleen MCCAIG (24 yrs) of New Street in Burlington (Released on Promise to Appear in Milton Court on April 29th 2014)
- Trafficking a controlled substance (marihuana)
- Possession of a controlled substance (marihuana) for the Purpose of Trafficking
- Possession of a controlled substance (Cocaine)
James VAN VIEGEN (27 yrs) of East 42nd Street in Hamilton (Released on Promise to Appear in Milton Court on April 22nd 2014)
- Possession of a controlled substance (marihuana) under 30 grams
- Breach of Probation
Investigators remind the public to utilize Crime Stoppers to report any illegal drug, gun or gang activity at 1-800-222-TIPS(8477), through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.com or by texting “Tip201” with your message to 274637(crimes)
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