 September 6, 2013
By Ray Rivers
BURLINGTON, ON. Pierre Trudeau was the father of multiculturalism, and in 1971 Canada became the first nation in the world to adopt that policy. Coming off the October 1970 FLQ crisis, Trudeau needed something to bridge the two solitudes, which Canada had become, and which made fertile ground for the separatists to argue for independence. Inclusion of Canadians regardless of their origins, respect for their cultural heritage and the richness that comes with diverse cultural backgrounds helped change the focus of minority rights in Canada and Quebec.
Multiculturalism is fundamentally a liberal philosophy – the right of individuals to freely express themselves and pursue their conceptions of the good life. The Liberal Party subscribes to it, so it shouldn’t be any surprise that Justin Trudeau immediately rejected Marois’ proposed charter. But conservatives also subscribe to this philosophy, particularly the more libertarian wing, though they are conflicted by their desire for control. For that and other reasons the PM is mostly staying out of the discussion at this time – but he’ll have to find his tongue if, and when, the Charter sees the light of day.
 The night Rene Levesque lost the first referendum in Quebec. The province would try a second time to leave the country in 1995. The NDP are socialists and have little time for religion or religious symbols, although Mulcair appears to be siding with Trudeau – but then he used to be a Liberal. The Parti Québécois (PQ) is also a socialist party and favours secularism. They still remember the Duplessis years and how the Church helped to oppress Quebecers – je me souviens. And, of course, the PQ prefer any policy which would enable them to reach their end-goal of independence.
Quebec has always been opposed to multiculturalism. Half a century after it became national policy, Quebec’s minority government is proposing a ‘Charter of Quebec Values’, a racist, at least in the broadest sense of the word, attempt at shutting multiculturalism down. Much like the French Language Charter, Bill 101, introduced in 1977 by René Lévesque, the proposed charter Pauline Marois is proposing discriminates against those who are different – those who threaten the notion of a distinct society in the nation of Quebec.
It is just another brick in the wall for the separatists – a wall to further divide Quebec from the rest of Canada. Former premier Jacques Parizeau blamed the ethnic minority in Quebec for the narrow defeat of his 1995 referendum on sovereignty. Premier Marois claims her goal is to unite Quebecers, a euphemism for stripping them of their individuality and re-engineering Quebec to deal with Parizeau’s complaint.
Pierre Trudeau discovered multiculturalism in the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (1963). And Ms. Marois has a commission of her own, The Bouchard-Taylor Report on Cultural and Religious Accommodation. If we thought multiculturalism was a complex topic, Taylor and Bouchard promote an even more complicated hybrid called ‘interculturalism‘.
A nation with diverse cultures is not one that rallies predictably for a common cause, such as Quebec sovereignty. So Premier Marois wants to instill Quebecers with a set of common values before the next referendum. If she needed a model, she might have looked to the Japan of the shogun era. For over 200 years the Japanese people were isolated from foreign influences; foreigners were expelled and their religions banned; trade and contact with the outside world was restricted; and a common language and social mores were forced on the people. The results of that unification process were impressive as we saw in the Second World War.
Europe, like Canada, once embraced multiculturalism, so much that chicken tikka masala has replaced fish and chips Chips as England’s most popular dish. However, Europeans, like some folks in Quebec, are concerned about the impending clash they envision with their traditional cultures. France is in the forefront of the fight against religious symbols, though the French government is perhaps more worried about ethnic ghettos, where streets and even suburbs have become enclaves and no-go zones.
Of course that isn’t the case for Quebec which has less ethnic diversity than B.C. or even Ontario. Toronto is now the most ethnically diverse city in the world. Quebecers are a minority within Canada and the downward spiral of discrimination is a human characteristic. So Quebec treats minority groups in the province less kindly than they themselves expect to be treated in Canada. The many freedoms Quebecers enjoy, being a part of Canada, they withhold from the cultural minorities they govern.
 The referendum in 1995 was a battle to keep Quebec in Canada but also to keep Canada a multicultural country. Finally and most importantly, Bill 101 and the emerging Charter of Values are just foundation blocks for the next sovereignty vote. Only a third of Quebecers have ever wanted to create a separate nation out of the province. But they recently elected a minority separatist government with that unwavering agenda as an end goal. Marois may appear to be pandering to a handful of intolerant voters with her charter, preying on their worst emotions. But she is just setting the stage for the bigger battle to come. She needs to deal with Parizeau’s complaint – even if that makes her look like a racist.
 Ray Rivers was born in Ontario; earned an economics degree at the University of Western Ontario and earned a Master’s degree in economics at the University of Ottawa. His 25 year stint with the federal government included time with Environment, Fisheries and Oceans, Agriculture and the Post office. He completed his first historical novel The End of September in 2012. Rivers is active in his community. He has run for municipal and provincial government offices and held executive positions with Liberal Party riding associations. He developed the current policy process for the Ontario Liberal Party.
 September 4, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. The whole idea of a farm – that place where the food is grown and the livestock cared for is something many of today’s young people just don’t get.
For today’s kids – food comes from the supermarket or more basically – it’s in the fridge isn’t it?
There was a time when Burlington was the fruit basket for the city. All of what we know today as Maple Avenue was fruit farms; there is a reason for calling part of Burlington The Orchard and Pepper Drive wasn’t after me – it was a place where peppers, red, green and yellow were grown.
Burlington Mall was farm land where fruit was grown.
All those farms were in time bought up by developers and either commercial operations or housing was constructed. The “old money” in Burlington is in the pockets of those farmers who suddenly found themselves wealthy beyond their wildest imaginings when the developers came calling.
 This is what Burlington was once all about. All the farmers put their produce on wagons and, before they all had tractors, the fruit and some vegetables were taken by horse-drawn equipment to what we today call Freeman Station but what was then the Burlington Junction station located right beside the large Freeman property.
How do you teach people what farming was all about? It was hard work and the crop you took in depended totally on the weather, which didn’t always cooperate.
The Region has saved a couple of locations that were once very prosperous farms. The Regional Museum is built into what was once a barn.
The Alexander Family Farm takes place each year just after school goes back. Takes place Sunday, September 8, 2013 – 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the Halton Region Museum.
 There was a time when much of Burlington was orchards or fields of vegetables. The orchard is on the north side of Dundas, west of Guelph Line. Admission: Children – Free; Adults (18 & older) $5.00
What will they do when they get there? Create – Play – Explore – Dance
There will be a “Nose-to-Beak” Birds of Prey show. Kids will get a chance to help create the Museum’s piece of the Quilt Trail. There will be a Geocache Challenge, a Discovery Hunt, a Farm Game challenges.
 What was once a family farm is now the location of the Regional Museum and where Halton’s annual farm day takes place. A chance to do some “Pioneer Chores” – no live stock at the museum so there won’t be any mucking out of stalls and there are no chickens so hen houses don’t have to be cleaned out.
A chance to do some farm crafts and a visit to the Blacksmith Shop – and if they don’t know what that is – explain that it has nothing to do with face painting.
And finally there will be a Pond Study
Food and beverages are being provided by the Rotary Club of Milton. Food & beverage subject to additional charges/fees.
There will be dancing and singing along to tunes of: Groovin’ Toons, original & familiar kid’s tunes with a groove and Turkey Rhubarb.
If you’re one of those that gets to events like this early in the day you will see the start of the a mass-participation cycling event that is expected to bring 3,000 recreational cyclists to Halton Region for its inaugural event.
 September 4, 2013
By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. It’s those first few days of the back to school period; when the kids are not thinking about traffic – their minds are on getting to school and meeting their friends. And the drivers aren’t used to all those kids at the cross-walks and wandering across the street without looking both ways – and those buds in their ears don’t help.
Back in 2006, the Regional Police realized that some educating was necessary and created a multi-faceted campaign that focused on both awareness and enforcement as key components in changing established driver behaviour.
During those early days of school each September police officers focus their efforts on speeding and aggressive drivers, proper use of seat belts and laws relating to the use of hand-held communication devices.
Earlier today a Milton District Response Officers stopped a transport truck with a float trailer passing P.L. Robertson Public School on Scott Boulevard. The driver was not wearing a seat belt and had a large piece of machinery on the trailer that was not secured. The driver was issued three provincial offences notices for Highway Traffic Act violations.
Another vehicle stop was conducted involving an overloaded dump-style truck pulling a large two-axle trailer, as it passed by Our Lady Victory School Catholic Elementary School on Derry Road and Commercial Street. The vehicle was found to have improper brakes, overweight and a multitude of administrative offences. Both the truck and trailer were taken out of service and the driver was issued 12 provincial offences notices.
This year’s campaign will run until September 13th and serves to enhance overall safety within our communities.
Keep your eyes on the road, pay attention and stay off that cell phone.
 September 3, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. Trees – do they belong to just the person on whose property they are rooted or do they belong to the community with the owner of the property on which they are rooted serving as a steward?
The moment you suggest city hall can tell you what you can and can’t do with your property all hell breaks loose – and with some justification. The bureaucrats can at times be particularly insensitive and thick-headed. The city has hundreds of people who will tell you stories of their woes and complaints.
 This is what a tree canopy should look like and this is what the people on Belvinia enjoy most of the year. But there are large parts of Burlington where mature stands of trees like this don’t exist because too many trees got cut down when development was done. An attempt to create a bylaw that would govern the cutting down of trees on private property in June was defeated on a 5-2 vote. A staff report suggesting the city not create a private tree by law didn’t help.
If there is going to be a change in the way Burlington looks at when we cut down trees it will take quite a bit more in the way of public education; a process that is hindered by the interests of the development community. A private tree bylaw would prevent developers from cutting down trees on properties they have purchased and want to assemble and develop.
 Known as the Joseph Brant oak, the tree, now more than 100 years old was a boundary marker for the grant of property given to Brant for his service to the British during the American Revolutionary War. Resulted in just the Mayor and Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward voting for the idea. The rest of Council sat on their hands and let their individual ideologies fill in that space where common sense should have prevailed.
At the time the Mayor came to the realization that there was some educational work to be done. Meed Ward saw the situation the same way and has announced that she will be bringing forward a series of motions to provide the citizens of the city reasonable options.
Meed Ward has advised her fellow Council members that she plans to put forward a number of motions that will cover:
1. A No-fee permit requirement for cutting five or more private trees at one time.
2. Notification and consent of adjacent properties for cutting private trees on the boundary of the property (Adjacent properties would be those on either side, and backing onto the property in question). Similar protections exist under the site plan process; this option would extend those same protections to trees in the absence of a formal development application.
3. No fee city permission required to cut any tree on private property larger than 20cm in designated Tree Protection Areas. Tree Protection Areas (TPA) are streets and districts where neighbourhoods have opted in to tree protection, via a petition and 2/3 majority survey. A minimum of 10 households required for implementation of a TPA. Items 1 and 2 above would also be part of a TPA.
4. Requirement to replant on private property or designated city property (to be determined by city staff) any private trees cut, on a one to one basis.
5. An annual report to council on the number of permits granted and trees cut, as well as TPAs established. A review of the tree protection plan at least once per term.
The intent of these motions, said Meed Ward is four-fold:
She wants to enhance tree protection for boundary trees and multiple tree cutting in the advance of a development application. She also wants citizens who support her view the opportunity to enhance private tree protection in their neighbourhoods.
Meed Ward believes the city needs some mechanism, to determine just how many trees on private property are being cut down and would like to see data tracking and enhanced tree protection options for residents.
Mayor Goldring got himself elected as Mayor on a platform that included doing more for the environment – getting the traction he had hoped for took a hit when he voted to take the wind turbine out of the final version of the pier and when he changed his mind on creating separate bike lane for Lakeshore Road.
BurlingtonGreen came close to swallowing their tongue when the wind turbine got lopped off the design; there were so many good reasons for keeping the wind turbine in place – unless of course there were design problems that would come to light if the turbine was installed – but that’s another story – isn’t it?
What we may be seeing at city council is a significant public issue slipping out of the grip the Mayor should have on it and seeing it slide into the hands of a council member who, while not popular with her colleagues, is proving to be quite adroit at capturing the public’s imagination.
Her comments during the unveiling of the Spiral Stella sounded much more “mayoral” than those of Rick Goldring’s.
Meed Ward plans to bring this matter forward at the Development & Infrastructure Committee on September 9th, during the evening session.
There have been well thought through delegations to city council on the number of trees being lost – Council does not appear to be listening. Colin Brock, speaking for BurlingtonGreen said in a delegation that “Some council members commented that tree removal is not an issue in their ward, while another suggested it may be a problem in theirs. Viewing this as a ward by ward issue is confusing to us. Just like the proposed escarpment highway or the proposed quarry expansion where the implications affect ALL citizens, so too is the preservation of our tree canopy in every ward, throughout the city. This decision needs to be looked at from a city-wide perspective.”
 This glade of trees on the east side of City View Park is to be cleared of these trees to create space for the construction of Maintenance space. BurlingtonGreen didn’t think this was necessary. That city-wide perspective is not in place yet. Burlington is still working its way through whatever relationship it is going to have with trees. The city recently cut down a small grove of tree at the City View Park where a maintenance facility is to be set up. There was nothing particularly outstanding about the trees and the city felt that given the very extensive tree planting done on the park property –this small grouping of trees would not be missed.
 with the trees taken down and the stumps being pulled out the space at City View Park can be readied for the construction of maintenance space. Did the city lose some vital trees on this project? There is a small property on New Street west of Guelph Line on the south side that has several magnificent trees on it. The houses look to be rentals, not particularly well-kept – and seem to be waiting for a developer to move on them.
 Does development mean that trees like this have to be taken down? Probably. The houses are poorly kept, the three properties are ripe for assembly, if they have not already been assembled. We would not be surprised if the properties are not already in the hands of one owner.
 If development is all about location, location, location this property on New Street at Guelph Line is just waiting for the chain saws and the back hoes. Is is possible for a different kind of development on this location? A private tree bylaw would at least prevent the trees from being cut down arbitrarily – and that’s something the development community does not want. The location of the property and the homes that surround it make this an ideal location for a small development. But what about those trees? Do they have to go – and sometimes the answer is yes – perhaps some can be saved but most of those trees will at some point have a close encounter with a chain saw.
There is a development on Ghent where more than 100 trees are slated to be cut down. The Ghent project is a close to total failure of progressive planning. The property that has been assembled is one that offers stunning opportunities but the developer has chosen the easy approach to a return on investment and wants to put in more than 50 homes in a set of properties that once had eight homes.
The planners weren’t able to come up with suggestions or solutions and what gets built on Ghent will never become the Roseland or Indian Point of Burlington three generations from now. What we build today – is what we have to live with for a long time. The way we are developing suggests there will be far fewer trees for the average family in Burlington.
That is not progressive planning.
 September 2, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. Local boards and committees, the place where many political careers have started, is a vital part of the way Burlington works.
The city looks for volunteers to sit on a number of Boards and committees that range from the Accessibility Advisory Committee to the Burlington Museums Board.
Mayor Goldring maintains “The volunteers who serve on a board or committee help to create a vibrant community,” and some of those boards are certainly “vibrant”; noisy and disorganized might be a better way of describing the way some have operated.
Others have had a profound and lasting impact on how the city has developed. The Heritage Advisory Committee did such a good job of resolving the mess the city had on its hands with the historical designation of properties that they got close to a standing ovation from Council when they turned in a report and have gone on to basically create and them implement the policies that determine how recognizing and preserving historical properties is going to be done in Burlington.
Heritage was given a substantial budget to carry out their work and operate, to a considerable degree, as an extension of city hall.
The Waterfront Access and Protection Advisory committee did not fare as well and was sunset by the city before they managed to get very much done.
The city wants to fill positions on the following:
 Museum Board has plans for a major upgrade to the Brant Museum – is this a place for you and your skill set? Burlington Museums Board
These people oversee the operation of the Joseph Brant Museum and Ireland House. With the Brant Museum moving towards a point where they fund raise to make very significant changes this will be a busy board.
Burlington Accessibility Advisory Committee
Accessibility has always been strong in Burlington.
Burlington Cycling Committee
This committee needs some fresh blood; they did their best but were not able to get the city to go along with bike lanes on lakeshore road. They did their best – but it wasn’t enough. Some pretty disappointed people who need new energy and new ideas.
Burlington Mundialization Committee
This Committee manages our relationship with sister cities in Japan and Holland. Might be time for some people who do not come from those countries to be on this committee.
 Is transit important? Do we spend enough on transit? Do people really want to pay for a transit service that is not all that well used? Have you experience with transit and could you contribute to the Transit Advisory Committee. Burlington Transit Advisory Committee
There is a new regime at transit now and their advisory committee is a lot more civil. Lots of work to be done here to make transit useful to more people.
Heritage Burlington Advisory Committee.
Probably the best Advisory Committee the city has.
Burlington Seniors Advisory Committee
With a growing seniors population this committee can play a very significant role in how best to be aware of the concerns, understand them and provide Council with some direction.
Sustainable Development Committee
New leadership on this committee will see some changes. Former chair served a full term and has left a strong team in place. Good place to be if the environment and matters of sustainability matter to you.
 Every year the Civic Recognition Committee goes through nominations for the Best Burlington has in the way of volunteer service. Is this something you could be part of? Burlington’s Best (Civic Recognition Committee)
This is the committee that handles recommendations for citizens that have excelled in their community contribution and deserve special recognition. The recognition evening could do with some improvement and getting the word out on what the city means by Burlington’s Best should bring in more nominations. These aren’t popularity contests –the city wants to recognize the truly deserving
2014 Doors Open Burlington Organizing Committee.
This committee needs new energy and a stronger sense of direction. If you’ve a passion fo helping the city tells its story – and it has a great story to tell – this might be a good place to dig in.
Terms vary from one to four years, with meetings held monthly. The application deadline is Friday, Sept. 13, 2013. Applications are also available in person from the clerks department at City Hall, 426 Brant St, first floor.
“Volunteering on a board or committee is a great way to share your talents and develop your skills,” said Danielle Pitoscia, the city’s acting manager of committee services. “It’s a great way to really dig deeply into your area of interest.” Comments like that from one of the best committee clerks this city has, gives you some sense of the energy the city wants to put behind its boards and committee. There is staff who are there to help; each committee has a Clerk assigned to it. The good ones are very good. Count Pitoscia among the good ones.
The comments we’ve made are the result of our experience with several of the committee and our observations of the others.
In the past the city has recognized a number of people who have made major contributions. John Boich, Jane Irwin, Amy Schnurr, Trevor Copp are just a few of the recipients that come to mind.
Go one line and download the application forms. Might be something that interests you and that you can make a difference on.
For more information on a specific committee, or to apply online.
 September 2, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. The buses will begin pulling up in front of the spanking new Frank J. Hayden High School which will quickly become Hayden High.
Some students don’t know which room will be their home class but most know their locker number.
 Hayden High, named after a Burlington leader in the development of sport for the disabled. Grades 9 and 10 show up on Tuesday. Teachers have been briefed, the principal and his administration staff hope they have covered all their bases – because at 8:40 the bell will ring and the history of Hayden High begins.
Day 1 at Hayden High is going to be a BBQ – nice touch. The school has quite the pedigree to build on. It’s sports team name has been determined and they should be out on the field real soon.
 Rear of the high school with the cafeteria windows on the left looking over the playing field. There may well still be the smell of fresh paint in the hall ways. A lot of stuff won’t be quite finished but the school will open and the Village of Alton will take on a whole new tone.
So – what are they going to walk into? We’ve not been through a tour of the building yet; the Haber Recreation Centre will see its first official event take place early in October. Bookings are being accepted now.
The library got its shelves last week and the books followed a day or two later. Library staff have been working long hours to have the space ready. Library CEO Maureen Barry said she would like to see the Library open by the middle of September and certainly before the end of the month.
From the outside the three parts of the structure are impressive. The Haber Recreation Centre, Hayden High School and the Public Library collectively form this newest addition to the infrastructure that people actually get to use as opposed to just driving on.
Immediately across the street from the complex is the Norton Skate Board Park, a number of tennis courts, a splash pad and soccer fields.
 Playing field at the rear of the complex. AstroTurf laying was not complete when picture taken. Alton Village, a location that still has new homes being built, has its elementary schools in place and is becoming a much more complete community with a history it’s residents now know more about.
There is plenty of parking space at the side and rear and of the building with an impressive playing field at the back of the school with natural stone seating. The high school cafeteria is at the back of the school overlooking the playing field.
 September 2, 2013
By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. A Halton Regional Police Service officer has been charged with assault while on duty.
The incident took place in Milton on Monday August 26 2013 at approximately 1:00 am when Constable Dwain Newham, on duty in the Town of Milton, is said to have assaulted a male victim that had been taken into custody by police.
Cst. Newham, during the course of his duties had responded to a disturbance call in the area of Main Street in Milton. While investigating the original call it is alleged that the Officer assaulted a male victim that had been taken into custody by police. The victim did not suffer significant injuries and did not require medical attention.
Cst. Newham will appear in the Ontario Court of Justice in Milton on September 25 2013.
 September 1, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. Premiers don’t just pop into town any time. Visits are calculated and timed and carefully planned. Sometimes media are alerted, sometimes not.
 Part of Premier Kathleen Wynne’s on -the-job training as she learns to flip a rack of ribs at Ribfest. For this half day trip through part of south-west Ontario the Premier chose to start in Burlington at the Ribfest, do two events in Hamilton and on to Paris, Ontario to end her day.
These are casual summer walk abouts; no speeches – just shaking hands and posing for pictures. Premier Kathleen Wynne spent fifteen minutes in the Rotary VIP tent and then strolled the grounds – flipped a couple of racks of ribs, said a few words to the CHCH news camera and assured the Gazette that she liked ribs but was not a frequent eater, and that yes she had worn an apron recently, in fact she baked a pie at home just a week or so ago and that the smoke from the ribs grill was something she was used to – having recently advised the public that she had in fact had an experience with smoke in her distant past.
 Mayor Rick Goldring explains to these lads who the lady with the apron on is. The Ribfest was doing just fine the day we were wandering around. Decent crowds, good music and line ups at the more popular rib stations.
Interesting why the public lines up before one seller but not another. All the ribs from Fearman’s –the difference between sellers is in the sauce that each uses. Rising high above each stand are signs that tell of the awards the seller earned with their “bling” set out on a stand for all to see.
 The length of the line-up told which ribs were most popular. Which ribs you buy is based on the price: – a rack is $22 at every station.
 Chow down time – this was finger ‘lickin’ food. Getting into Spencer Smith Park for Ribfest is a lot different from getting there for the Sound of Music. There is fencing around every foot of the park except for entry points at each end. People are literally funneled into the park and have to sort of run a gauntlet of commercial enterprises that want you to take the Pepsi test, or look at the Sun Life insurance product or check out something to do with getting better use out of your car tires.
 These are the kind of pictures that you look at to see who you know – and are they making a funny face. There is a videographer in there who knows what a good lunch is all about. Once you get through that “gauntlet” you are into the open area with those huge signs either side of the park. You don’t get to see much of the lake from the park. When you do get out of the park and choose to walk out onto the pier – always nice – there is a cluster of commercial vendors with their food trucks lined up. I got the feeling there was a little more hucksterism than I was comfortable with.
 Ed Eves, President of the Rotary Club of Burlington Lakeshore squires the Premier of the province around Ribfest Saturday afternoon. There didn’t seem to be a quiet place to sit in the shade and chat with a friend. The tables where you sat to eat reminded me of something out of men’s university dining hall where you felt the tables were going to be tipped on their side for a food fight. They were jammed in so tight that it was difficult to get to a seat.
One thing we did notice was how quickly the tables were cleared. There were more than a dozen stations to chuck the paper plates and a finger washing stand close by.
 If you looked around there was still some sitting room. The weather was close to perfect and the music was good – great way to bring a summer to a close. Burlington appears to be the biggest Ribfest in the province and it certainly drew the crowds. Rotary sponsors the event – and at $22 a rack – Rotary must do well financially allowing them to do what they do around the world. Be nice to learn more about what they actually do with that financial haul?
 September 1, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. The Mayor went to Ottawa recently to schmooze with other Mayors and to bend the ear of Ontario Cabinet ministers who attended the Association of Municipalities in Ontario conference; an annual event.
 Mayor Goldring is a member of LUMCO – a subset of the AMO organization made up of mayors from larger cities. LUMCO – Large Urban Mayors of Ontario have a particularly messy and at times nasty issue that is difficult for them to harp on at home but one they need to come to grips with – and that is the rising cost of early responders.
Police, fireman and emergency services people are costing us a fortune but no one wants to come out and say that – one does have to get elected and suggesting we could get by with fewer police officers and fewer fire trucks and the fireman are back faster than a jack rabbit with what that will do to their response times.
All true – but the municipalities want some fairness and a lot of streamlining to the current interest arbitration process.
According to Mayor Goldring, who gets much of his data from AMO, between 2005 and 2010, salary increases for the municipal sector hovered around 5% while increases for firemen (not just men any more is it?) were 27%; police averaged 19% and EMS people saw increases of 41%.
Unsustainable and, according to Goldring “unfair”. The Mayor is quick to add that the city is well served by its first responders. That phrase could be turned around to read that the first responders are very well served by the city. There are many, many members of the fire department on the province’s Sunshine list – that document that sets out who earns more than $100,000 a year.
The fireman in Burlington, and we assume across the province, have figured out how to get their claims in front of the politicians and keep them there – and so far they have been successful. So much so that the current provincial government doesn’t appear to be in any hurry to change the way the salary game is played for these essential people.
 For the first year in some time a small delegation of firemen took part in the annual city budget public consultation. At the 2011 Burlington public consultation meetings on the budget the firemen attended as a group and sat at one table and ensured council members heard their story. Sometime later there were eight to ten firemen in the back row of city council chambers when the budget was being passed.
These are big guys and there is a threatening sense to ten or more of them being in one place. Firemen have as much right as anyone else to demonstrate to make their point; something they did very effectively for Dalton McGuinty when he was running for office the last provincial. Whenever he stepped off a bus there were two lines of firemen creating path for him – all wearing “Fireman for McGuinty T-shirts”, great optics and good on them for knowing how to get attention.
The municipal politicians who have to come up with the money to pay these men and women now have to pay very close attention and look for ways to get what Mayor Goldring calls for some fairness in the salary game.
 Burlington has a union contract with the firemen that has been ‘in the works” since 2011. “Some of these interest arbitrations can take as long as five years to settle” explains the Mayor. And all too frequently he adds, “the settlement is retroactive and there is no reason given for the arbitration decision made.”
The province’s economy is better today than it was in 2011 but it is still a little on the wobbly side. City council has to find the money to meet the arbitration decision and at the same time keep the other union contracts in line. All this, at a time when the gap between union pay rates and that available in the private sector is widening. Add to that the very significant pension plans that municipal civil servants have gotten for themselves and you begin to understand why politicians go gray – quickly.
With the province now being run by a minority government politics gets in the way with the Tories looking for whatever advantage they can exploit and the New Democrats doing everything they can to ensure their union members get and keep as much as they can. And the Premier wakes up every morning hoping she can avoid a confidence vote. Which may be the way the game is played at Queen’s Park but try and make that point at city council when the budget is being debated and the Mayor talks of his wanting to keep tax increases below 10% during the his first four-year mandate. If the arbitration decision comes in before the budget is made final, watch for a big gulp on the part of the people in the finance department.
In a letter Progressive Conservative House Leader Jim Wilson sent a letter to his counterparts he said that: “Exceedingly generous contracts being handed out to emergency workers through arbitration system, are forcing municipal leaders to choose between raising taxes and taking fire trucks and police cruisers off the road.” There was a hint of the possibility of some movement but it didn’t go much further than that. Adam Radwanski said in the Globe and Mail that: “To talk to the governing Liberals and the Tories since the letter was sent is to sense that they are once again about to demonstrate their complete inability to work together – overlooking past signs of common ground in the process.
 Did the Mayor manage to mention our first responder salary problems to the Premier while she was in town last Saturday? An obvious solution would be for the Liberals to introduce legislation this fall that would implement the arbitration changes from the 2012 budget, and for the Tories to support it. In an interview, however, Labour Minister Yasir Naqvi sounded disinclined to do that. The government’s focus, he said, is on bringing municipal leaders and emergency workers together to “develop consensus.” Other Liberals have echoed that imminent legislation is unlikely.
That the two parties are further from consensus on this issue than they have been in years can likely be chalked up to strategic calculations reports Radwanski.
“Both sides are playing with fire. Ms. Wynne is at risk of alienating key allies, such as Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion, who has been among those leading the charge for arbitration reform. And if Mr. Hudak is seen as an obstacle to changes rather than an effective advocate for them, that could cause grief for his largely rural caucus among mayors whose small towns are being stretched especially thin.
 Voters will have to decide first who should run the province before any significant decisions get made. “If that is not enough to encourage co-operation, the simple matter of fairness should be. Even as the province had some recent success in freezing the wages of its employees, municipalities were getting stuck with double-digit salary increases in contracts awarded by arbitrators. As Mr. Wilson said in his letter, that is just not sustainable.”
Radwanski suggests that “By at least returning to the common ground they seemed to find last year, the Liberals and Tories could restore a tiny bit of faith in the minority legislature’s ability to address Ontarians’ needs. Instead, they seem poised to provide another example of its inability to do so.”
From a purely municipal perspective this is as good a reason as any to get on with a province wide election and determine just who is going to run the province – together the three stooges certainly can’t.
 August 30, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. The province’s premier will be taking in Burlington’s Ribfest Saturday. Kathleen Wynne plans to spend an hour in the city, where no doubt she will be reminded that we are the safest city in the province, have the lowest crime rate and the slowest growing population – and anything else anyone said about us that was at all nice. The negative stuff – is there any?
 Mayor Goldring chats with then Minister of Transportation Kathleen Wynne. He wasn’t buying what she was selling then. Saturday the Mayor will squire the Premier around Ribfest. The visit is just one of those “popping in to say hello” things. Mayor Goldring had plans to be in Spencer Smith Park selling beverage tickets – he might just sell a handful to the Premier and perhaps talk about additional funding coming our way.
These casual get togethers can have interesting outcomes.
Wynne has been to Burlington a number of times in the past. She was in town during the last provincial election when everyone made sure she fully understood our views on any highway the province thought it was going to ram through the Escarpment. Wynne has been Minister of Transportation in the past and said during one of her visits that the problem with the transportation ministry bureaucrats was that they never got over being the Ministry of Highways when roads was what they were all about.
Now that Wynne is Premier she has to think about the bigger picture which certainly includes roads but also includes an economy that isn’t what it once was. She has an aging population that needs a different level of care, probably not what the current model of hospital can provide. She has parents who want the best education for their children that their tax money can buy and a population that is much more diverse than when she got into politics.
 Mayor with the Premier: best buddies? Wynne is certainly a different kind of politician. Her lifestyle choice and her willingness to say that yes, “she did puff”, gets us out a phony stage where everyone knew but no one ever said anything. There was a time in this province when you couldn’t get a picture of a politician with a glass of beer in their hands.
Wynne has taken to touring the province on the weekends and Spencer Smith Park is a decent place as any to get out of the car for a walk – a little side trip out along the pier will put some colour in her cheeks and give those escorting her around an opportunity to explain, perhaps, how city council overcame immense resentment on the part of taxpayers over the cost of the thing but that Council bit the bullet, persevered and now everyone loves the thing.
The Premier is expected to be out there taking orders for ribs between 1:00 and 2:00 pm.
 August 30, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. The water along the shore might be messed up with blue green algae and gas prices are said to be ready to touch $1.36 a litre but RibFest will start – so it can’t be all bad – can it?
Royal Botanical Gardens is going to hold the Teddy Bear Picnic, Royal Botanical Gardens between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. to join the Teddy Bear Picnic. Don’t forget to bring your favourite furry friend.
 Ribfest Burlington – said to be the biggest in the province. Ribfest runs from Friday, August 3oth to Monday Sept. 2. The event runs from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday.
Weather: Saturday is expected to see a bit of rain, maybe a bit on Sunday as well but Monday is predicted to be sunny but a little cooler than the seasonal norm.
The nut cases will be on the highways – watch out for them. Stay off your Smart phone – it is smarter than you are but hasn’t yet figured out how to tell you that you can’t drive and work one of the things.
There are plenty of activities for all ages at city parks and recreation facilities including pools, arenas and community centres. Hours and program times vary over the long weekend. For information, get on over to the city website.
Burlington Transit will be operating a holiday service schedule on Monday, Sept. 2. The administration offices, including the downtown transit terminal will be closed.
Parking: Free parking is available in the downtown core at all meters, municipal lots and the parking garage on Monday, Sept. 2. The waterfront parking lots (east and west) do not provide free parking on statutory holidays.
What’s Closed: Holiday hours will be in effect for some city programs and services over the long weekend. City Hall: Burlington City Hall will be closed on Monday, Sept. 2 and will reopen on Tuesday, Sept.3.
The Burlington Art Centre is closed but the Art Etc Gallery Shop is open seven days a week. If Burlington plans on becoming culturally relevant – the Art Centre will want to think about being open on holidays.
Tourism office is open.
The Performing Arts Centre is, as they say in show business – dark for the weekend.
Provincial Offences Courts will be closed on Monday, Sept. 2.
 Teddy Bear Picnic at the RBG If you want to close out the month with a bang and make a really significant career change – Saturday is the last day to get your application in to become one of the people who will settle on Mars . I’m not kidding – so far 7000 Canadians have decided this earth is too much for them and they want to live in a colony on the red planet. Check it out.
 August 30, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. The Ontario Association of Art Galleries (OAAG) has listed the Burlington Art Centre as one of 28 public art galleries in 20 cities across Ontario nominated for its 36th annual Ontario visual arts awards. OAAG will announce the winners at a ceremony on Friday, September 27, 2013 in Toronto.
The awards are annual, province-wide, juried art gallery awards of artistic merit and excellence. They recognize the new exhibitions, publications, programs and community partnerships that have been commissioned by and produced by Ontario’s public art galleries over the previous year.
 Denis Longchamps, the male on the right, and the recently appointed Director of Programs at the Burlington Art centre took part in the public consultation meeting to determine what the Action Plan should be for the next phase in the creation of a Cultural Plan for the city. While Denis Longchamps is now the current Director of Programs, it is the work of Jonathan Smith, Curator of the permanent collection, who should probably get the nod for getting the BAC on the nomination list this year.
Smith got himself as part of the city’s collection when he had a fob from a pocket watch he owns cast as one of the bronze sheets that are part of the Spiral Stella outside the Performing Arts Centre.
Getting nominated for an award is not the only news at the BAC. Ian Ross, until very recently the Executive Director of the BAC advises that he is now known as the President and CEO of the place. His Board didn’t attach any additional money to the title but they did pay for the printing of new business cards. He has yet to change the title on the web site yet.
Ross announced that changes are being made in the organizational structure of the place. When you’re the CEO you get to do that. “There will be a Director of Enterprise, a position that will pull together many of the jobs that reach out to the community” explained Ross. “Membership will come under the direction of whoever is brought in for this job as well as art rentals and media.” Relations with the corporate community are also expected to be part of this position.
 One of the best pieces of property west of the downtown core. Is this the best use for this location? The BAC is also the result of considerable speculation as to just how long they will continue to be located on the current site. The structure needs a considerable amount of upgrading to its plant and the building doesn’t exactly make the best use of the land it sits upon.
Burlington’s city manager has mused in the past about making better use of the assets the city has and the BAC is certainly a major asset on a prime piece of property. The Guild’s that get the credit for bringing the BAC into existence 35 years ago might have something to say about any ideas city hall may have about “re-aligning” that asset.
The fall programs will start soon; those Saturday morning art classes are one of the best offerings in the city. Check them out on the BAC website.
 August 29, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. Halton Region’s Health Department is advising residents to avoid swimming and wading in the waters at Beachway Park and LaSalle Park in Burlington and Bronte Beach Park in Oakville because blue-green algae (BGA) have been identified at these locations.
Residents are also advised not to eat fish caught in these areas and not to let pets play in or drink the water.
Halton’s drinking water is not affected and continues to be safe.
 Blue green algae tends to float near the surface and wave action brings it close to shore. Its colour makes it very easy to identify. Exposure to the algae causes skin irritation. Some BGA have the potential to produce toxins or skin irritants. Adverse health effects from BGA are mainly related to ingestion of BGA-contaminated water or skin irritation and itching from skin contact with BGA-contaminated water.
 Wave action brings the algae close to shore. As a precaution, signs have been posted to warn beach users.
“Conditions at the beaches can change from one day to the next,” stated Dr. Monir Taha, Halton Region Associate Medical Officer of Health. “We encourage residents to visit our website for up to date information.”
If you have been swimming or wading in these waters and feel unwell, please visit your physician or walk-in clinic.
 Hamilton put up these lines in an attempt to hold back the algae in parts of their waterfront. The picture was tweeted from Hamilton Algae is something that is in the water most of the time. Run off from heavy rains will flush phosphates into the streams and hot sunshine causes the algae to breed just that much faster.
It’s natural – its there – at times it just gets a little out of control.
For more information, dial 311 or visit the Region’s website.
 August 29, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. If there was a platform that the Artists Collective wanted to put forward – and there is one – it didn’t show much of its head at the first public consultation meeting on the creation of a Cultural Action Plan based on the consultant’s report the city now has in hand.
 The Artists Collective was very clear – they want the Parks and Recreation people out of the culture business. They want people with training on something other than a trampoline, preferably with degrees in the arts and practical experience as well. Jim Riley, an artist who was in the room last night, made a significant point when he said online that “he noticed the table Trevor was at managed to present some of the platform of this collective. I recall one other table bringing forward some aspect of the platform”
The artists heard city general manager Kim Phillips correctly when she said they need not bother to show up at the second public consultation at Tansley Woods if they were in attendance last night.
 Teresa Seaton, centre, does the deep think with others during the public consultation on the Cultural Action Plan Teresa Seaton, a stained glass artist who was a prime player in the creation of the ten year old Art in Action program, that gives more to emerging artists in the way of financial support than the city does, asks: Are we really not allowed to go to the next consultation? Funny!
The artists need to learn how to make their case and to do so as forcefully as they need to – or the “gymnasts” will continue to do what they’ve been doing for the past five years.
Many felt it was great that the mayor stayed for the entire event.
 Trevor Copp, the Burlington actor who mobilized the arts into a Collective makes a point on leadership while Executive Director of the Burlington Museum’s operation listens. It was a decently attended meeting – but decent attendance isn’t going to change the way city hall thinks. Art and culture is not something that has a foothold in Burlington yet. The positive note is that the artists now realize this and they have organized and are pushing back. Push harder – or you will lose.
What did transpire?
The meeting was organized into working groups with people at different tables working through different subjects.
The city wanted to know what the artists thought in terms of vision at one table; the creation of cultural nodes was the topic at another, leadership and funding at another.
The discussion was solid for the most part. We did hear the word “proactive” used very often – but no one seemed sure what was really meant by the word. One artist made a point of asking that question: “What do we mean when we say we want to be proactive?”
The artists want to be sure that they define the word and that city hall understands and accepts the definition they create.
While it was a good meting the city failed to allow participants to adequately prepare for the meeting. There was a 25 page report that set out work plans for six key areas of focus each of which had a number of deliverables and initiatives embedded in it.
 Brian McCurdy, newly appointed Executive Director of the Performing Arts Centre got a chance to bend the Mayor’s ear. Many were impressed that the Mayor stayed for the full evening. Few realized his wife was there taking part as an accomplished artist in her own right. Three year action plans, basic review criteria and five-year goals were set out in the document. The consultant Jeremy Freiburger at CoBALT Connects, also set out what they felt was the core financial investment required and key shareholder contributions where possible.
It was patently unfair to expect those attending to give what is a key document for the development of a Cultural Action Plan the time and attention it needed when they get to a meeting. Some members of the Artists Collective did have a copy of the report – but many had never seen the thing. Yes, it was on the city’s web site – and if you found it, you were fortunate. The city is still working through the development of its e-gov initiative – they’re not there yet.
 Jeremy Freiburger, the consultant who wrote the Cultural Plan and provided a lengthy set of recommendations, is probably the best cultural thinker west of Toronto and could hold his own with anyone in Toronto. He is credited with the creation of the Arts Walk event in Burlington. No one is sure just how much of his report will make it into the budget. Freiburger set things out for the city in plain clear language in his recommendations. It is now up to the city to decide what it wants to do. Public consultations are being held – the first was last night – they city is going to need to be much more inclusive and find a way to reach out to a wider audience. The Artists Collective has organized themselves more effectively – now, and they need to learn one key lesson: bureaucrats do not like to give up any power they have.
There is hope however. City Hall and City Council found that they could not manage the Heritage file and they basically outsourced that to the Heritage Advisory Committee. If the Artists can convince the Mayor and the city manager and then a majority of the council members there is a hope.
In the opening remarks to his recommendations Freiburger said:
Focus Areas: The focus areas were chosen to address the needs and desires we felt were most paramount in the community. While we acknowledge that there are other issues that could have been formally addressed in this plan we felt it was important to give you a plan that was achievable and targeted. A plan that provides an exhaustive list of options and actions only provides room for distraction and misalignment. We feel that if the community focuses on these core issues, other successes and resources will follow.
Timeline: Similar to the focus areas, we felt that providing a plan that was tied to a realistic timeline was essential. Oftentimes, as evidenced in the Internal Literature Review of this process, 10-year plans get lost within the hectic schedules of your organizations and the municipality. It’s all too easy to lose sight of a 10- year goal, but a goal within the next 12 months must remain top of mind. We also feel that plans with longer durations mean less and less to Council as they shift. Creating a shorter timeframe in which Council, staff and stakeholders can show ownership and see action is key.
 It was vision and cultural courage that got this piece of art outside the Arts Centre. The artists in the city are going to have to bring the vision to city hall and press hard for the cultural courage that will be needed to make the city a place with a cultural base. Vision: Through the recommendations provided we aim to see Burlington become a community that provides clear leadership on cultural development. Throughout its history Burlington has made strong choices to support the development of incredible facilities like the ones you manage, unique programs like Student Theatre and Teen Tour Band, great festivals, incredible outdoor spaces and a network libraries and community centres that rival any in the country. In our opinion your next strategic choices are about leadership, collaboration and community.
Throughout this process we did not only identify issues; we also connected with opportunity. Almost every citizen or artist, parent or cultural provider, business or politician we met offered possible solutions, expertise and ideas on moving the cultural yardstick forward. No one asked not to be further engaged.
With this in mind the principle gaps we see as paramount are essentially human resources and communication. The willingness is in the community – be that at Council, in neighbourhoods, or boardrooms. Everyone wants an opportunity to participate if they feel the request is realistic, supported and genuine. With a commitment to human resources focused on development, sustainability and communication we feel Burlington’s cultural community will thrive.
Finally, we want to impress upon you that this is not a plan for just the municipality to enact. Where possible we’ve given roles and responsibilities to cultural and non-cultural bodies, residents, City staff, artist and residents alike. We also set goals on the engagement of other funders, business partners and the creative/cultural industry as a whole to bring this plan to fruition.
As you review these recommendations know that they are just that – recommendations. You’re free to explore new ideas, reshape these concepts or add additional initiatives. We hope you’ve found our approach thorough, creative and inclusive and we look forward to working with you as you take the City of Burlington Cultural Action Plan through its final stages.
There is much more to say on this file.
Stay tuned.
 August 29, 2013
By Ray Rivers
BURLINGTON, ON. Let’s debunk the nonsense about the high cost of renewable energy in Ontario. Gord Miller, Ontario’s Independent Environmental Commissioner, estimated that, for 2010, the total cost for wind and solar was a mere 3% of a household’s total ‘energy used’. Since your household bill includes other charges, such as delivery and debt recovery,that translates into just over one percent.
 There are thousands of small solar panel installations like this across the province – they work very well and in many cases provide revenue for the owners. So, McGuinty’s Green Energy Act is not why your hydro bill keeps climbing and it’s certainly not going to bankrupt the province, as the scare mongers would have you believe. That rising tide of hydro bills has to do with more mundane matters like updating, improving, maintaining and expanding our grid infrastructure; and building new power plants even as electricity demand has been falling.
Yes, there is the half-billion dollars, or so, wasted on the cancelled gas plants – but that pales with what we’ve spent on the nukes. Professor Jose Etcheverry, with the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University, sums up Ontario’s nuclear experience as “it always costs much more and takes longer than originally budgeted”. He points out that $1 billion is being shelled out to consultants just to estimate the cost of fixing our newest nuclear plant at Darlington. And like the cancelled gas plants we won’t see a kilowatt of energy out of that money.
Canada was proud to be only the second nation ever when, in 1945, we achieved a self-sustaining chain reaction with a tiny reactor at Chalk River, Ontario. But it was only seven years later, in 1952 when Chalk River became the site of Canada’s first nuclear accident. And there was another one in 1958, and then there have been three more serious Canadian accidents after that. Fortunately there were no direct fatalities from any of these mishaps.
As the professor points out, Ontario’s experiment with nuclear power has been costly. And there is still no plan or budget to deal with the nuclear waste we have been storing on-site in big pools, pools like the ones at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant. Leaking radioactive water from that disabled plant, now the worst nuclear accident in history, is a real environmental concern, which nobody should take lightly as we watch the poisonous plume of seawater approach the shores of North America.
Ontario is a pretty stable seismic location to situate something like a nuclear plant. But it wasn’t the earthquake which caused the crisis in Japan, it was the flooding tidal wave. And if we learned anything this year, it is that we, too, are powerless against floods when nature decides to unleash its furry. Then, there is always the chance that something else will go wrong as it did at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl or at Chalk River. And what about the chance that some terrorist makes her way inside the reactor building?
 Ontario has a number of nuclear energy reactors – they were expensive to build and are very expensive to maintain. We get half of our electricity in this province from nuclear energy and the facilities have been pretty reliable of late. But we know there will be more problems, requiring even more money to be poured into these reactors as they age and decay. And then there are the unknown costs of eventually decommissioning the plants and the contaminated sites they sit on. So the chattering class of pundits, taking shots at renewable energy as being too expensive, are either lying to us or have their heads stuck where the sun doesn’t shine.
Speaking of the sun, I installed a solar panel last year. Imagine how much different our power needs would be if everybody had one of those on their roof. Sure, you need to back-up these renewable sources with gas plants, at least until the engineers can get their act together and develop ways of storing surplus energy – with capacitors or hydrogen gas or something else. And there will always be some bean-counter crying ‘unreliable’ or ‘inefficient’ when she spots below-capacity generation on a cloudy and calm day – but that is the nature of the beast. These systems only work when the conditions permit, but work they do.
Wind turbines and solar panels are as safe as electrical generation gets – something we can never say about a nuclear chain reaction. And the costs of buying, installing, maintaining and de-commissioning renewables are relatively inexpensive. I know there are people who give themselves stress headaches, worrying about a wind turbine, half a kilometer away, producing a whoosh of wind only they can hear. But really they need to get a grip – for example, they should take comfort in knowing a wind mill will never threaten them with the China Syndrome.
 Ray Rivers earned an economics degree at the University of Western Ontario, taught in New Zealand and earned a Master’s degree in economics at the University of Ottawa. His 25 year stint with the federal government included time with Environment, Fisheries and Oceans, Agriculture and the Post office. Rivers is active with ratepayers groups, a food bank, environmental organizations, community journalism and policing. He has run for municipal and provincial government offices and held executive positions with Liberal Party riding associations.
 August 29, 2013
By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. For what is seen as the traditional last weekend when you can swim for as long as you want and not have to even think about getting back to work or school the next day – the public beaches along the lake are not particularly inviting.
The Region’s Water testing reports – well the results are below. Not all that good.
Both the Beachway Beaches and the small Beach at the foot of Brant Street are deemed to be unsafe – you certainly don’t want to gulp down any of that water. Acton and Milton are the only places where the water is deemed safe. The lake is not being nice to us this weekend – and that would be because we have not been nice to the lake.
Feeding those geese is a large part of the problem.
 August 28, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. Construction equipment is on site and holes are being dug in the ground as ADI Developments begin building the three-story condo on Guelph Line between Mainway and Upper Middle Road.
 The roof top deck and shared amenity was an interesting addition. Will the noise from the QEW take anything away from the space? It’s an attractive looking building with considerable thought as to how parking would be handled and the way people would use the amenities that are part of the structure. The roof top lounge on such a small building was an interesting add-on.
 They looked like perfectly good trees that would have enhanced the development – but they got cut down. As nice as the Guelph Line project is going to be – it could have been even nicer had more thought been given to keeping the number of perfectly good trees. ADI, although new to Burlington, has picked up on the ability to cut trees down when some effort could keep perfectly good trees in place.
We asked the developer to comment on why several trees were cut down but did not get a response.
 Ground broken – move in dates can’t be far off. The project on Guelph Line is basically sold out and with construction underway ADI has another project which is about to go through the planning process. The group made a presentation at a public meeting held at city hall to show the public what they had in mind for the Sutton Road and Dundas part of town – at the top of what we know as The Orchard.
ADI, a company run by twin brothers supported by a father who has considerable development experience, seem prepared to take some risks when it comes to design. Burlington developers tend to stick with the familiar and not design building that fall far outside the tried and true buildings of the past.
Drive along Maple to get a sense of what Burlington has come to expect. Devoid of design sums up those structures.
The plans, and that’s all they are at this point, were made public. Now the developers have to get a sense of what the reaction is going to be and can they be sold – in a reasonable amount of time.
The Guelph Line project sold quickly enough.
 An early architects rendering of what the ADI Development Group thought they wanted to do with the Dundas-Sutton project. The look of the project and the price point both underwent a change. What started out as the LINK Condos+Towns project appears to be morphing into something with the name Bronte Creek in it. The design appears to be going through a number of changes as well. This project has an edgy look and feel to it. ADI design is always a cut above what others bring to market and are usually priced comfortably. They were talking of starts at $160,000 but that got bumped to $170,000.
 Second design has a deck for residential use – a feature ADI has on another of its buildings – and parking at the ground level. Retail will be built into the ground level as well. Very short walk to Bronte Creek. The project has a unique second level deck – garden arrangement that creates a lot of open air space available to all the residents and puts the parking underneath on a lower level.
No dates yet on when this project will break ground. It got a decent community response at the public meeting. Site approval should go smoothly.
 August 28, 2013
By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON Halton Police are searching for a man reportedly seen masturbating in a complex on Maple Crossing Blvd in Burlington. On August 28, 2013 at about 3:15 am, police received a report of a man who entered a backyard and peered through the window of a residence in the complex. It appeared the male was masturbating before he was seen leaving the yard on foot. He is described as male white, early 30’s, 5’6, 180 lbs, short brown hair wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans.
That this wasn’t captured on a cell phone camera is a missed YouTube moment.
Police would like to take this opportunity to remind residents to not only secure their homes but also to lock yard gates and report suspicious people in their neighbourhood to police.
Any person with information related to this investigation are encouraged to contact the Three District Criminal Investigations Bureau at 905-825-4747 ext 2315, 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).
 August 27, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. The natives are restless. The tom-tom drums are beating. Smoke clouds are being used to spread the message:
There’s a storm coming – a storm of colour and light and sound. August 28, 6:30pm at the Burlington Art Centre. The City is holding a public consultation for the Cultural Action Plan: come and get soaked, was the language used by the newly formed Artists and Cultural Collective that was organized to ensure that the voice of the people who “do” culture was heard.
 Jeremy Freiburger, author of the Cultural Plan for the city has extensive connections within the arts community and is credited with the creation of the Arts Walk in Hamilton. Will his report make it through the city hall bureaucracy? Burlington got the Cultural Plan they commissioned CoBALT Connects to do for the princely sum of $100,000 +. Now they are going out to the public for a response.
The Artists Collective has taken exception to the approach the city has put in place – they argue that there isn’t a real, living breathing artist on the Steering Committee, that is conducting the public consultation. In the past the artists have formed their own small groups and griped or complained about how they were treated. The big dollars and all the energy went into putting up buildings and now we have a Performing Arts Centre that theatre groups can’t afford to use.
 City General Manager Kim Phillips, who now has the cultural file on her desk, will need to pull hard in a number of directions to produce a report that satisfies the artists and can get approved by a city council that isn’t big on the arts in general. Lip service is the order of the day for this city when it comes to culture. The Artists take exception to a situation at city hall, where people with physical education backgrounds in the Parks and Recreation department oversee culture. The artists feel they are neither heard, understood or represented. They want to see a change and have set out five points they maintain are essential in any cultural action plan city hall staff send along to Council.
The artists collective has created a bulletin board their members use to communicate electronically and posted five points for their members to consider and take to the public consultation meetings.
The recommendations from the now 200+ strong organization were developed at a number of Town Hall meetings held during the summer when they identified five top goals for any Cultural Action Plan.
The five recommendations from the Collective are:
1. A distinct Arts & Culture department within the City. We require focused leadership for Arts & Culture from within the City to function effectively. This is primarily a restructuring of existing City elements – grouping Art in Public Places, Festivals And Events, Tourism, Teen Tour Band, Student Theatre together – along with 2 FTEs reporting directly to a General Manager within the City by the end of 2014.
One appointed, the head of the new Department – who should be a qualified and experienced Arts & Culture administrator – would have the initial task is to gather input and research towards point 2:
2. A funded external, arm’s-length Arts Council. This is a tricky and key point to moving forward. It requires a balanced representation of Arts & Culture makers in the City and needs to have clear sustainability plan in place in order to succeed. It’s precise role and model would be based on the research, input, and recommendation of the new Arts & Culture department in partnership with the Arts & Culture Collective.
With grassroots support and an infrastructure developed in partnership with the City, this external arm’s-length Council can effectively optimize the Arts & Culture of Burlington. We would look for this plan to be developed over 2014-2015 and receive approval as a part of the 2015 budget.
These two elements – an internal and external organizations – would end the history of isolation and fracturing that has characterized Arts & Culture in Burlington. This partnership could then advocate and address our remaining top concerns in 2015 and beyond.
3. Grants for Arts & Culture makers in the City. Develop a grant program to support Artists and achieve the City’s economic and cultural goals. In order to make this an innovative city investment in Artists are necessary.
4. Space. Spaces for Arts & Culture activities are too expensive and too few – we need significantly better rates, more space for us to realize our aims.
5. Review the Bylaws and Permits. Existing Bylaw and Permit systems are making Arts & Culture events and business ventures prohibitive. Better systems will ensure accessibility for private and public developments.
Laudable and certainly debatable – it will be interesting to hear how the city types responds to these.
 Trevor Copp talks with Angela Paparizo during the unveiling of the Spiral Stella at the Performing Arts Centre earlier in the week. Trevor Copp operates a professional theatre company, Tottering Biped Theatre and was the instigator and prime mover of the Collective. When he became aware that the city had deferred a meeting to discuss a Cultural Plan it had been holding for some time he started to organize and rally the arts community to present a unified front.
 Teresa Seaton, a stained glass artist has been a prime mover behind the annual Art in Action tour – and is now part of the newly formed Arts and Culture Collective. Copp argues that the arts have never been given the kind of attention they need and that the focus has been on bricks and mortar. The city currently has one person with training working on the arts file – half time. Copp sees the Collective as a “common place for the artistic voice of Burlington. Musicians, photographers, visual artists, writers, culinary artists… all are welcome! Consider this the “unofficial Arts Council” board of Burlington!”
Teresa Seaton, a stained glass artist and a long time arts advocate wonders aloud when Burlington can take part in the provincially directed Art Days that take place in many communities across Ontario where a 3 day-long, annual collaborative pan-Canadian volunteer movement takes place pulling together all the cultural threads in a community.
 There is some international standard art produced in Burlington – the city is looking for a way to create a Cultural Action Plan to build on the successes. Are the right people in place to do this? Two years ago the Art in Action people, who hold an annual studio tour were told they had to get a license for each of the studio location the public was invited to tour. Artists working out of their homes were lumped in with people going door to door selling aluminum siding or driveway sealing services. The artists felt the city should be encouraging the development of their community rather than seeing them as a source of permit revenue.
The city now has a new Executive Director at the Performing Arts Centre who brings a strong reputation for being able to see the bigger picture and create a sense of community and direction for the arts. In Kingston where he last served, Brian McCurdy was referred to as the cultural guru; that is certainly something Burlington could use. The city has never had a clear sense as to what it is culturally. It seemed to feel that once the Performing Arts Centre was built the job was done – the artists have organized themselves to tell the city that art and culture is not about buildings – it is about people expressing themselves through different art forms – not something that comes easily to a city that grew out of farm land that produced apples, pears and peppers.
Burlington has been the soil from which very significant groups have emerged – but they left town just as soon as they had strong enough legs to get to the GO station. From time to time they come back and entertain us. Copp would like to change that and hopes he can be part of a movement that makes it possible for artists to earn a living here – now.
For its part city hall wants to now create a Cultural Action Plan that it can take to Council. Staff wants to produce a document that includes a vision, leadership, communication, cultural nodes, local investment, including support for individual artists and emerging organizations and events along with some way to measure the results of the city’s efforts.
What bothers the artists is that the people heading up the public consultations are not artists – they are bureaucrats who, the Artists Collective don’t feel understand how art works and what it needs to be grown.
The city has organized two public meetings; one at the Burlington Art Centre this evening and a second meeting at Tansley Woods on Thursday, September 12, Community Rooms 2 and 3.
These are going to be interesting meetings.
The results will go to a Council meeting in October – at a time when council members are beginning to hunker down for the municipal election in 2014. This Council couldn’t agree on creating bike lanes on Lakeshore Road and wasn’t able to get a private tree bylaw in place because they felt it offended too many people.
If they couldn’t muster the courage to save the trees – is there hope for the artists?
 August 27, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. They waited years for this – seventy years to be exact but earlier this week the Canadian government formally recognized the members of Canada’s World War II bomber command by issuing a clasp that would be attached to the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal.
 Awarded to all those who served as volunteers during World War II. Members of Bomber Command who are still alive will now get a clasp to go with the medal. The Canadian Volunteer Service Medal was awarded to every person of any rank in the Naval, Military or Air Forces of Canada who voluntarily served on Active Service and honourably completed eighteen months (540 days) total voluntary service from September 3, 1939 to March 1, 1947.
Of about 50,000 Canadians who served in bomber crews during the war, nearly 11,000 died.
 Henry James Hewitt of Oshawa was one of the GTA resident who was honoured last week. Burlington veterans will be awarded their medals in due course. These men were just beyond being boys. They flew missions that were dangerous and far too many of them didn’t return. Earlier this week far too many of them were no longer alive and able to accept the recognition they deserved.
We celebrate the Battle of the Atlantic Sunday because Canada was such a vital part of that part of the fight. It was our frigates that assembled in the Bedford basin part of Halifax harbour and prepared to begin the treacherous journey across the Atlantic knowing full well that submarines lurked below the surface of those tossing seas.
 A Lancaster bomber during a run – those black marks are not clouds – they are anti-aircraft shells exploding. The men who flew the Lancaster bombers out over Germany time after time dropping bay loads of bombs on cities that were railheads for the movement of trains and troops and munitions, each time flying into a hail of anti-aircraft fire that brought down hundreds of our aircraft.
 They were so young, so willing – we lost far too many of them. The crews of those bombers were tightly knit groups who never knew when they lifted off if they were going to return to touch down.
The clasp given to these men, people from the Greater Toronto area were the first to be recognized, will be added to the medals they already have. But this little bit of medal will mean so much more to those who were part of bomber command. It was a recognition that was long past due and hopefully the Ministry of Veterans Affairs will make that special effort to ensure that every living member is found and given their clasp and that the families of those who are not with us any more are also found and given the clasp.
|
|
