 By Staff
August 31, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
Do you remember the s l o w dances?
Sure you do – and Kyle Tonkens, a local installation artist would like you to experience those wonderful evening dances once again.
 Your invitation. On Thursday, September 10, between 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm., Tomkins is inviting you have one of those slow dances as the sun sets in the west. The event features a real-time two hour sunset, where there will be live music, refreshments, and of course wonderful works of art on display.
I wonder if they will play Red Sails in the Sunset – that one always worked for me.
The event takes place at the The Art Gallery of Burlington on Lakeshore Road.
 It was vision and cultural courage that got this piece of art outside the Art Gallery of Burlington – plus the desire of a man to make a statement of his devotion to his wife. It will be held in the RBC Community room where a glorious sunset will be projected on the south wall of the community room. For those who want the real thing in the way of a sunset – they will be able to dance outside close to the Rebbecca – one mans statement of his love for his wife.
The sunset that will be projected was filmed at Princess Point – a part of the Cootes Paradise where the view of sunsets is incredible.
Admission is free.
 By Staff
August 31, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
If you see someone with behind the wheel of their car with their cell phone next to their ear – you know the driver of the car has at least $490 he doesn’t need.
On September 1, 2015, the rules of the road will be updated to include tougher penalties for distracted driving, new rules to protect cyclists and measures to ensure the safety of tow truck drivers and children riding school buses.
 This will cost you $450 starting tomorrow – plus three demerit points. Getting Tougher on Distracted Driving
Penalties for distracted driving will include an increased set fine of $490* and three demerit points upon conviction. Novice drivers will receive a minimum 30-day suspension for the first conviction and longer suspensions for subsequent convictions.
If current collision trends continue, fatalities from distracted driving may exceed those from drinking and driving by 2016. Research indicates that a driver who uses a cell phone is four times more likely to be in a crash.
Keeping Cyclists Safe
The “dooring” of cyclists will carry an increased set fine of $365* and three demerit points upon conviction. New rules will also require drivers to leave a one-metre distance where possible when passing cyclists, or they may face the penalty of a $110*set fine and two demerit points. Cyclists who don’t use the required bicycle lights and reflectors face a higher set fine of $110.
 This is called “dooring” – using your rear view mirror before opening the car door prevents that from happening. A bike must have a white front light and a red rear light or reflector if you ride between ½ hour before sunset and ½ hour after sunrise, and white reflective tape on the front forks and red reflective tape on rear forks.
Staying Alert Around Tow Trucks and School Buses
Drivers must now leave a safe passing distance between themselves and tow trucks stopped on the roadside to provide assistance. Failing to slow down and move over for a tow truck can result in a set fine of $490.* School buses will be more recognizable — they will now be the only buses permitted to be chrome yellow.
By Staff
August 31, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
There is going to be a Town Hall meeting on transit issues on Tuesday September 1st at the Royal Botanical Gardens starting at 6:00 pm through to 7:30 pm.
 The event is being hosted by Burlington MPP Eleanor McMahon and Hon Ted McMeekin, Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs.
Ontario Transportation Minister Steven De Duca is the featured guest.
Not a lot of information in the meeting notice we were sent other than to say they will be speaking about transit issues and answering questions.
 Burlington MPP Eleanor McMahon and Hon Ted McMeekin, Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs are hosting the Transit Town Hall meeting. Transit is a major issue for Burlington as it grapples with the intensification that is to take place and an ever more crowed QEW.
GO transit is a provincial service that is critical to Burlington.
There was no sense that a major announcement is to be made – but there is a federal election and the Premier of the province has gotten behind federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau who recently announced a policy that will pump millions into public infrastructure.
The event is for anyone who wants to be at the RBG – the Gazette will report on the meeting.
 By Pepper Parr
August 28, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
The headline said: Ontario Committed to Maintaining Roads and Bridges
The rest of the story was about vehicle licence fee increases that come into effect September 1, 2015 in order to help maintain Ontario’s road safety, support key services and improve crucial transportation infrastructure.
Fees for driver licences, renewals, replacements and commercial permits are among those increasing.
These changes support the recommendations of the Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services to cover the rising costs of maintaining provincial roads, bridges and highways, enhance cost recovery for the delivery of driver and vehicle licensing services, and to support quality public services Ontarians rely on every day.
Here’s the damage to your wallet – not all that bad.
  The Ontario government has committed over $19 billion since 2003 to design, repair and expand provincial highways and bridges across Ontario. There are about 12.1 million vehicles registered in Ontario.
Ontario is making the largest infrastructure investment in the province’s history — more than $130 billion over 10 years – which will support more than 110,000 jobs per year on average, with projects such as roads, bridges, transit systems, schools and hospitals.
 By Ray Rivers
August 28, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
It’s messy out there and getting worse. Canada is in a recession, our second one in less than a decade. Oil and resource prices have collapsed and expectations are they’ll stay low for the foreseeable future. And all those jobs in the oil patch are disappearing since the tar sands are uneconomic at today’s oil prices. It’s little wonder that Albertans tossed out its provincial Conservatives and took a gamble on the NDP.
 NDP leader Tom Mulcair asks a question during Question Period in the House of Commons. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Sean Kilpatrick)
Any economist worth his/her salt should have seen this coming. NDP leader Tom Mulcair, who is a lawyer, warned the federal government a couple years ago about this so-called ‘Dutch disease’, a consequence of putting all our economic eggs in one basket – focusing on the high life afforded by oil, only to see your world come crashing down when that market changes, as it did for the Netherlands a few decades ago.
All these so-called free trade deals and federal disinterest in anything but oil have helped gut Canada’s manufacturing sector. Over 300,000 manufacturing jobs have disappeared since 2004. And dropping our corporate income tax rates into the cellar has done nothing for the economy, except make the big oligopolist companies richer, allowing them to dispense even more obscene executive bonuses, and to hoard the rest of the cash. Even the big auto companies have shifted much of their production to our NAFTA partner Mexico, now replacing us as the largest North American car maker.
Over the horizon, the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal promises to wreck our productive dairy and egg industries, handing them on a platter to New Zealand’s milk monopoly and subsidized American farmers. The current federal government is ideologically opposed to marketing boards. It dismantled Canada’s wheat board a few years ago leaving many grain farmers stuck without a way to get their crop to market last year. Thanks to the drought, which has diminished grain yields, that will be less of a problem this year.
 Prime Minister Harper, center, checks out the product at Ecosynthetix. Company CEO John van Leeuwen is on the left; Mike Wallace, Burlington’s MP brought home the bacon The ‘Dutch disease’ has taken the Canadian dollar down by over a quarter, reducing our international standard of living by the same amount. A lower dollar means higher prices for imported goods so expect to see inflation re-emerge after a two-decade holiday – and bet on higher interest rates as the Bank of Canada tries to wrestle with that nasty little problem.
The cupboard is bare. Paul Martin’s budget surpluses have been squandered thanks to the tax cuts given to the wealthiest Canadians and big corporations. Eight straight years of federal deficits and we’ve added $150 billion to the red – not a good place to be when your economy is hitting the skids. And with current interest rates already near zero, government spending and income redistribution will be needed to fix this mess.
So like it or not we are in for more deficits – or a very long period of austerity. That is the choice facing Canadians as we go into this longest election period of recent history. Everybody makes mistakes, even big ones, as the current government did, gambling on the oil sands as Canada’s goose laying golden eggs into perpetuity.
Fortunately there is an election happening, an opportunity for our political leaders to tell us what they are going to do about fixing the economy. Poll-leading Mr. Mulcair’s main plank is to establish a national child day-care program, much like the one his predecessor, Jack Layton, killed by voting against the government in 2005. But unlike that one there is no provincial buy-in for such a program today, so his chances of success are slim.
 Justin Trudeau, talking to one of the party faithful during a visit to Burlington. Mr. Trudeau would reform the tax system slightly to rob the rich and give to the middle class. This would be stimulative since lower income folks spend more of their income on goods and services than the rich do. His announcements also include funding support for developing new technologies and building more much-needed municipal infrastructure.
Mr. Harper has offered a tax credit for membership in service clubs, but mostly is standing proud on his record. Some would say, given that record, he should be running away from, rather than showcasing his leadership of the Canada’s economy. In fact one on-line comment on the CBC website called it “The Worst Economic Record Since the Great Depression”.
 Ray Rivers writes weekly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was a candidate for provincial office in Burlington where he ran as a Liberal against Cam Jackson in 1995, the year Mike Harris and the Common Sense Revolution swept the province. Rivers is no longer active with any political party.
Background links:
Harper’s Economy Dutch Disease Election
Deficits Deficit Debate More Dollar Infrastructure Plans
 By Staff
August 28, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
Detective/Constable Calvin Bulbrook, is with the District Offender Management Unit of the Halton Regional Police. He goes after people who don’t want to get caught.
Bulbrook came to the Regional Police from the Toronto police force where there was a similar program doing very well. He convinced the Regional police to go with it – and so far it is working quite well. There was one instance where an individual who knew he was wanted decided to turn himself in before he made the Friday Fugitive feature.
Another who was featured one Friday was hassled by parents and friends to turn himself in and get his picture out of the paper.
 Ryan Wood has a tattoo of a “Maple Leaf” on his right shoulder and is wanted by the Halton Regional police as well as the Hamilton police. The Fugitive Friday program is now at Week 19; this time the police are looking for Ryan Andrew WOOD
There are numerous people who continue to evade the police and the court system and continue to live out in our communities while having a warrant for their arrest in place.
The Burlington station is reaching out to the public to help locate Wood who is 35 years old.
It is alleged that:
In March 2012, the accused falsified a report of a break and enter to his vehicle which he alleged contained close to 800 painkillers that had been prescribed to him.
Further evidence revealed that the accused was involved in trafficking the drugs. The accused was arrested in Burlington in possession of several of the items he had reported stolen and was charged with Fraud, Public Mischief and Trafficking in a Schedule I substance. He breached a condition of his release and was arrested again in July 2012.
The accused was granted release and scheduled to attend court in March and April of 2013 which he failed to do.
He is wanted by Halton Regional Police for:
Trafficking Schedule I
Fraud under $5000
Public Mischief
Fail to Comply with Recognizance x 2
Fail to Re-Attend Court x 2
He is also wanted by Hamilton Police Service for:
Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking – Schedule II
Production Schedule II – Marihuana
Fail to Re-Attend Court
WOOD is described as 6’, 200lbs, blue eyes and brown hair. WOOD has a tattoo of a “Maple Leaf”
on his right shoulder and the image of an “Angel and Devil” on his upper back. WOOD has ties to Burlington, Hamilton and British Columbia.
Anyone who may have witnessed this male or has information that would assist investigators in locating him are asked to contact D/C Bulbrook – Burlington Criminal Investigations Bureau – Offender Management Team at 905-825-4747 Ext. 2346 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), or through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.com, or by texting “Tip201” with your message to 274637 (crimes).
By Staff
August 27, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
In the summer of 2013 the Art Gallery of Burlington proudly launched the John Willard Fibre Arts Residency to celebrate the remarkable life of John Willard.
 Willard took quilting in a different direction – he was bold, at times outrageous and left a collection to guide others. Not one to follow the rules of tradition, Willard turned the craft of quilting into a truly remarkable art form. With scissors, needles, thread and fabrics Willard created his own one of a kind quilt designs whether inspired by traditional patterns that he had deconstructed or by historical events.
To continue Willard’s legacy as a fibre art teacher, the residency will enable emerging artists to have access to one of the AGB resident fibre studios in order to develop a body of work for their first solo exhibition in the RBC Community Gallery.
 Karen Cummings has a strong style of her own – she looks like an admirable choice to follow in some of the Willard footsteps Cambridge’s Karen Cummings has been named the first recipient of the John Willard Fibre Arts Residency for Emerging Artists. She describes her current work as abstract collage for which she uses fabric and fibre. Cummings sees her eclectic collection as an opportunity for personal expression, based on the classical techniques of machine and hand stitching. Her work at times can be careful, contrasted to the frenzied moments of fast machine-stitched along with the arranging and rearranging of fabric, thus creating endless possibilities of diverse surfaces. Between the harsh difference of the rate of speed at which Cummings works and techniques used, Cummings hopes to convey her message.
During the residency, Cummings will engage with the public to share her passion for textile art. This opportunity to share her work gives her a chance to talk about some of the processes she has come to use and to expand her fibre art language. Cummings shares “…that feedback from visitors is valuable and hopefully AGB visitors will ‘see’ and understand a little about the complexities of this medium”.
Cummings’s will begin her residency in September and expect to spend a few days each week at the gallery
The Art Gallery of Burlington is located at 1333 Lakeshore Rd, Burlington, ON L7S 1A9
Gallery Hours:
Monday: 9:00 am – 6:00 pm
Tuesday – Thursday: 9:00 am – 10:00 pm Friday – Saturday: 9:00 am – 5:00 pm Sunday: 12 noon – 5:00 pm
By P epper Parr
August 27, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
The don’t give up – they’ve got a cheque book that is pretty thick and they can spend; and right now the Regional Realty Services department is wanting to spend taxpayers money to acquire as much Beachway Park money as they can.
To put all this in context – there are 28 private homes in the Beachway Park that the Regional government would like to buy – and they want to do that buying on a willing seller – willing buyer basis. The problem with that is there is really only one willing buyer and not that many willing sellers – but that hasn’t stopped the Region from making offers.
 An attractive, well maintained home in the Beachway – the owner struggles to ensure that it will be eventually expropriated by the Regional government who need it if they are to build an announced park. Helene Skinner, who has been a Beachway Park resident since 2000, told the Gazette that the Region made us an offer back in the spring of $750,000. We said “NO WAY” The location, property and lovely completely renovated homes with all the upgrades is perfect for us !!
Keenan G. Lane, Manager of Realty Services for the Region, said in his letter to Ms Skinner: “On our end, all the reports we have received to date indicate Halton’s offers are certainly in keeping with the larger market.
“It is regrettable that our discussions regarding the Region’s proposed acquisition of your property ended so abruptly. Melissa and I were looking forward to a follow-up meeting with you, wherein we had planned to discuss the additional options outlined in the Burlington Beach acquisition program.
“There are several incentives we are offering all Beach owners, including a 5% purchase premium in recognition of the inconvenience related to relocation. This, together with the fact that you don’t pay commissions to Halton (market rate is 5% payable by the vendor), would mean that you are realizing a 10% premium relative to a private sale at the same number.
“We completely understand your position in this matter, but I hope that you will consider Halton if you do decide to sell your property.”
Skinner replied:
 This Beachway home was sold to the Region for more than $600,000 with additional incentives that included closing costs and the right to rent the house for a number of years. “As indicated by you on behalf of Halton Region, the multifaceted park plan, if approved will start and stop and/or work around the existing homes.”
Skinner uses every opportunity she gets to quote and remind the Region that they would like to buy her property; her concern and fear is that they will expropriate.
Skinner believes it is important for the public and real estate appraisers / agents to be assured that the Beachway community is NOT obligated to sell and/or sell to Halton Region/City of Burlington and that any park enhancements will be made to include the homes as they remain. Again…NO expropriation, hence, our homes can increase in value like all other communities on the open market. The fact that the Region would love to have our property is a value add. Little supply…BIG demand!!!!
 The Regional government released the plans for an impressive park design that would require the removal of the 28private homes in the park. Most residents have no interest in moving – the park design doesn’t allow for the homes. The Region revealed a very extensive Beachway Park re-development plan – that was impressive. One homeowner took exception to the plans and said in a public meeting that while it was a nice plan – “you seem to want to build it on my property and I don’t want you to do that.”
The Region will do what government does – the Beachway home owners will do that they have been doing for more than fifty years – hang tight and stand up for their rights.
Links to related stories:
Beachway Park plans made public
By Pepper Parr
August 27, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
 A great way for the season to start at the Performing Arts Centre – new Executive Director starts that day as well. When asked what his favourite program was in the 2015/2016 Performing Arts season Executive Director Brian McCurdy said: the brilliant jazz guitarist Pat Metheny who appears on September 1. McCurdy retires in the very near future – we hope he was given a pair of tickets and that his wife will be able to join him for the performance.
This fifth season of programming at The Burlington Performing Arts Centre will see 68 artists and companies on the stages; it is The Centre’s largest offering of arts and entertainment to date. This Season delivers an exciting mix of returning favourites, and exceptional performers gracing our stages for the first time; from Canadian music icons and hilarious comedians, to world music stars and beloved childhood characters.
There will be opportunities to see Lighthouse, comedian Howie Mandel, Jully Black & Jarvis Church, José Feliciano, classical pianist Emanuel Ax, Broadway legend Colm Wilkinson, and many more.
In addition to world renowned talent coming to Burlington, The Burlington Performing Arts Centre is once again partnering with local professional theatre companies Tottering Biped Theatre, Nortesur Artistic Productions, and KooGle Theatre Company as part of the Theatre Series.
The Centre also partnered with the Live & Local Music Series – presenting six events throughout the season, putting local musicians on stage. New this Season, local acts will perform in the lobby prior to a selection of events, to provide pre-show entertainment and greater exposure for local artists. These initiatives collectively work towards supporting the growth of a strong regional theatre and music scene, with Burlington as the focus.
 Starting in the cabarets and jazz clubs of Toronto while still a teenager, Micah Barnes is now a well-loved singer-songwriter.
And if you didn’t know – this Friday there will be another of the Jazz on the Plaza – starts at 6:30 – the bar will be open and you get to hear the Micah Barnes – and the price is certainly right – free.
By Pepper Parr
August 27, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
 A former Burlington MPP, George Kerr swam in the Bay to prove is was not totally polluted. And yes there was once a car that could serve as a boat as well. There was a time – maybe 30 years ago when the local MPP had to take a swim in Burlington Bay – Hamilton Harbour to convince people it was not that polluted. That was the best the government could do at the time.
It is different now – the government realizes that they cannot do all that much by themselves but if they involve the public they can be a part of making real and significant change.
Ontario created the Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund grant to help community groups protect, restore and enhance the Great Lakes.
Now in its fourth year, the fund provides a grant of up to $25,000 to not-for-profit organizations, schools, First Nations and Métis communities and other local groups for projects that have a direct environmental benefit to the Great Lakes. Past projects and activities supported by the fund have included:
• Planting trees
• Creating rain gardens
• Restoring wetland habitat
• Controlling invasive species
• Cleaning up beaches or shorelines
• Naturalizing stream banks and shorelines.
Applications will be accepted until October 23, 2015.
To qualify, your project must have a direct environmental benefit and support at least 1 of the 3 goals.
 When Burlington Green gets the opportunity their members turn out in droves to plant seedlings and save as much as they can of the fragile ecosystem in parts of the Beachway Park. Goal 1: protect water quality for human and ecological health
Examples to meet this goal include: strengthening riverbanks to reduce erosion students restoring wetlands to manage stormwater runoff building fences to keep livestock out of waterways helping property owners maintain septic systems.
Goal 2: improve wetlands, beaches and coastal areas. Examples to meet this goal include:
youth planting native grasses to restore sand dunes, rehabilitating coastal wetlands by restoring fish habitats, organizing community events to clean-up shorelines, restoring wetlands using traditional ecological knowledge.
Goal 3: protect habitats and species. Examples to meet this goal include:
Students planting trees to provided shaded habitats along shorelines, creating habitats for wetland wildlife, restoring traditional harvesting areas by planting native species, creating fish spawning beds
This year’s fund will award $1.5 million in total for eligible projects.
 Once seedlings are planted they need care and attention and sometimes water. Since 2012, $4.5 million has been awarded to 221 community-based projects in Great Lakes watershed areas, including the St. Lawrence River Basin and the Ottawa River; more than 11,000 volunteers have helped plant 85,125 trees, release 2,133 fish, create or enhance 643 kilometres of trail and collect 586 bags of garbage.
Ontario’s Great Lakes Basin is home to 40 per cent of Canada’s economic activity and 95 per cent of Ontario’s agricultural land.
If you want more information about the Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund and want to look over the application form CLICK HERE – that will get you to the government web site
By Staff
August 27, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
Operation Decoy – it’s going to hit Burlington it is a Regional Police traffic safety initiative that utilizes education and enforcement strategies to reduce the speeds of vehicles travelling along roadways in Burlington.
Operation Decoy will create an awareness of a high profile police presence in an area through obvious visual cues. The targeted result is the reduction of speeds and the promotion of safer driving habits.
 With the police office clearly visible – people were still pulled over for speeding. The project will consist of four phases.
1) Speed Sentry equipment will be placed by officers in an identified area to capture traffic volume and speed data for a period of time. The Speed Sentry will display vehicle speed and the posted speed limit. This would be deemed an “education” period for drivers.
2) Placement of a marked police vehicle at the identified location to provide drivers with a highly visible deterrent from speeding as they will not be able to determine if police officers are present or not. The Speed Sentry equipment will remain in place collecting data from this period of the project.
3) Physical police presence at the location with speed enforcement equipment. Vehicles detected speeding will be stopped and issued a Provincial Offences Notice.
4) Remove marked police vehicle from the area leaving only the Speed Sentry to collect data for this portion of the project. Data will be analyzed and if appropriate the area will be revisited within a short period of time to reinforce the speed limits. Areas will be periodically checked for compliance and a repeat of the enforcement will be conducted if deemed necessary.
 Signs are pretty clear. Police still nabbed a number of speeders during an All Hands on Deck which had the Chief of Police out writing up tickets. The two officers shown here were kept busy. Operation Decoy is upping the game with a more detailed program – obviously the police feel more presence is needed. In order to increase safety it is necessary for the public to recognize that speeding is unacceptable and can have catastrophic repercussions. As a result, police are hoping this campaign will remind drivers that as their speeds increase so does the risk of a collision.
Road Watch:
The Halton Regional Police Service is committed to combating dangerous and aggressive driving behaviours that put all road users at risk.
If any citizen would like to report a traffic concern they can do so by visiting our website and making a Road Watch complaint.
ROAD WATCH is a community driven program encouraging anonymous reporting of incidents involving dangerous and/or aggressive driving. This program is an opportunity to bring an aggressive driver to our attention.
Be the extra eyes and ears and learn more here: https://www.haltonpolice.ca/PRC/Pages/ROADWATCH.aspx
By Staff
August 27, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
For those in the Shadeland Avenue and Forest Glen Avenue area:
 Let’s put a little flavour into the community – Ciao baby! Traffic flow is going to be restricted to local traffic through to October 2015, for minor reconstruction work.
How does minor reconstruction take more than a month?
Tom Georgiadis at 905-335-7600, ext. 7806 has some of the answers
By Staff
August 26, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
You might not be able to get a hot dog at Easterbooks on Thursday but you will be able to watch a film crew set up for the shoot they will be doing on Thursday, August 27th at Easterbrooks Restaurant at 694 Spring Gardens Rd.
 The location scouts wanted a place for a television segment that was going back to the past – Easterbrook’s certainly meets that criteria Halton Regional Police Service will manage short road closures of two to five minutes for filming.
Preparation takes place during the day – 7 am to 7 pm
With filming starting at 7 pm am running through to 2 am
Wrap up will be done on Friday, Aug. 28 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The television segment has to do with going back into the past – that helps understand why they chose Easterbrooks,
Pam Brooks, who works at the Spring Garden Road location said the television show is about a time capsule and a bunch of scientists that want to stop a plague that is taking over the world and another bunch of people who don’t want the plague to end.
12 MONKEYS is a character-driven science fiction thriller about one man’s desperate attempt to save mankind using a dangerous and untested method of time travel. The small screen version of 12 MONKEYS will star Aaron Stanford (Nikita), Amanda Schull (Suits), Kirk Acevedo (Fringe) and Noah Bean (Nikita).
A portion of the location filming will be at EASTERBROOKS, mostly exterior scenes with 1 interior scene.
 A blast from the past – the fifties style at Easterbrook’s was just what the television location scouts wanted. “About twenty guys showed up a few weeks ago and looked the place over and decided we were what they wanted” said Brooks.
The production company GEP 12 Monkey Industries is located in Toronto. One of the production crew is a Burlington resident.
Segments of the television show can be found on Youtube.
By Staff
August 26, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
Three young girls from Burlington are spending much of the next few days at the CNE in Toronto taking part in the Rising Star talent event that has taken place for the last 29 years.
 Dancer Lauren Salt has been dancing since she was two – has made it to the semi-finals at the CNE Rising Star competition. Lauren Salt from the Dance Station and both Poppy and Olivia from the Creative Edge Dance Studio have all made it to the semi-finals in their event.
Poppy and Olivia are dancing as a team while Lauren is doing her own act. She competes next on Sept 1st. Poppy and Olivia compete on August 31st.
Poppy said that she started dance for fun when she was younger and added that “I love dancing with my friends and it’s exciting to perform on stage. It feels really good when I am doing choreography and learning new styles. I hope that I can do more with dance as I get older. I would like to perform in shows and maybe do some acting.”
 Olivia on the left and Poppy on the right are dancing as a team at the CNE Rising Talent competition Olivia indicated that she can express her feelings and emotions through dance. She also said that she feels joy when she dances and would like to continue with dancing when she’s older so that she could travel with dance and see lots of different places in the world.
Lauren Salt, who has been in dance classes since she was two years of age said:
“Dance to me, is my world. Dance defines me and who I am. It has helped me become the person I am today. By dancing for eight years now, I have learned to be grateful and confident in myself. When I am up on stage dancing, there is an unexplainable feeling I get doing what I love. It is my passion and it is what I would like to do for the rest of my life”
That kind of passion is what produces champions. We will watch with anticipation on how well all three girls do at the CNE competition.
 By Staff
August 26, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
At 10:45 pm on Tuesday evening the Halton Regional Police received a report that a pedestrian had been struck by a train.
 This location had a bit of pavement on the path leading to the tracks – that was changed. The location was reported to be in the area of Fairview Street and Walkers Line in the City of Burlington.
Emergency services personnel responded to the scene and located a deceased male on the train tracks.
The Collision Reconstruction Unit attended the scene and determined that the male had been struck by a westbound VIA train, which was traveling from Montreal to Aldershot.
 The fence and a sign were put up – which stopped rail line crossing at this point. All westbound and eastbound train traffic was halted for the investigation. The VIA train involved was released from the scene after approximately two hours.
Police are still working to confirm the identity of the male pedestrian and next-of-kin notification will subsequently follow.
Foul play is not suspected.
Pedestrians continue to risk crossing the railway tracks despite the efforts the city has made to put up barriers.
 By Pepper Parr
August 25, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
Public health is a service that is provided by the Region. Much of the direction for public health comes from the province with the actual service delivered by the Region to people in the different municipalities.
There were two services that the Gazette used to get information from the Region on – the health of the lake water where there are public beaches and reports on the incidence of West Nile Virus.
To date – there have been no reports from the Region – which would suggest there are no problems with the water and no reports of West Nile.
 That didn’t seem quite right so we put a call into the Region and asked if we had missed something. The Region has six, seven or eight communications specialists – people who prepare information for the public which they send out to media – we write up reports letting people know where it is safe to swim and where the Region is treating vegetation for mosquito infestations – which if you recall is a critical part of the food chain for birds – which gets that virus into the public.
The response we got from the Region was – check the web site – all the information is there for anyone who wants it. Whoa – that’s not quite the way the system is supposed to work.
The Region has the information and they have a mandated responsibility to do everything they can to inform and advise the public.
Someone has taken their hand off the switch at the Regional office.
 By Pepper Parr
August 25, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
They will be back soon – that magnificent seven that get paid $100,000 + each year for serving as your representative on both city and regional council.
They have been away from the horseshoe at city hall since the middle of July – and except for the Association of Municipalities of Ontario that was held in Niagara Falls – they haven’t had much to do in the way of formal meetings.
Burlington tends to be very quiet at city hall during the summer. The non-union staff at city hall are not that young.
The five year age range of the 129 people who hold leadership positions
2% are 26 to 30 – 3 people
1% are between 31 and 35
9% are between 36 and 40 – 12 people
16% are between 41 and 45 – 21 people
19% are between 46 and 50 – 25 people
32% are between 51 and 55 – 41 people
13% are between 56 and 60 – 17 people
7% are between 61 and 65 – 9 people.
There is a lot of vacation time to be used up.
 City hall leadership briefs the Mayor on an issue during the budget preparation process The other interesting thing is that close to 50% of the leadership will retire within 10 years; something the Human Resources department spends a lot of time thinking about. The pension plan in place for the municipal sector is seen as very good and many choose to retire in the second half of their fifties and try and new career.
As the members of Council drift back into the city and begin looking at their agendas and gearing up for the fall session – which for them begin September when they do two days of meetings at Regional Council where they will look at the Transportation Service 2014 Progress Report; do an On-Site Visit to Verify Potential Threats to Halton Regional Municipal Water Supply; consider changes to Waste Collection Area Boundaries and a look at the Conservation Authorities Act which is being reviewed.
When Council adjourned in July for the summer break there was no holding of hands and singing Cumbia. The period of time from when all seven members were re-elected last October to the July break was as fractious as this reporter has seen – even in the days when Cam Jackson was Mayor.
Differences of opinion are part of serving the public but the nastiness with which these people treat each other is shameful. On December 18th this Council treated John Taylor, a member of Council with 26 years of experience, terribly. Earlier in that December 18th meeting Taylor was given an long term service award – within a few hours he was basically stripped of committee memberships that he not only deserved but that were dear to his heart.
A few weeks later he came close to having to beg for financial support for Community Development Halton which they needed to cover them until a grant application was approved.
 Car Free Sunday started as an event to convince people to get out of their cars and walk, bike or use public transit – it became a party put on at public expense for ward Councillors to entertain their constituents – at $10,000 a pop. Earlier in the session members of Council approved the spending of $10,000 for Car Free Sundays for both wards four and five and ward six. Mayor Goldring commented at the time that the events looked more like politicking than they did occasions when the public got to learn why everyone needed to make less use of their cars. His Worship was right – the events have become political boondoggles; hopefully they won’t be in the 2015 budget.
Councillor Marianne Meed Ward is concerned with the way reports get to Council members and she wondered aloud if two much of the meeting management was in the hands of the Clerk’s Office when it perhaps should be in the hands of the members of Council.
Meed Ward wants to see more “quickly to action” on the part of this council. We are collecting a lot of data but we don’t seem to be getting all that much done. Our growth hinges on creating jobs in this city. While the city does not actually create the jobs is can create the environment and ensure that the services needed are in place.
That means a city hall bureaucracy that serves the needs of people doing business in the city and with the city. We hear of those situations where things don’t work – the complaints, like gossip make the rounds quickly. The good news tends to take a little longer – but there is some good news.
 The public got to see information that was not secret but seldom had they had an opportunity to see a lot of data put before them and then be able to discuss some ideas with developers. A number of months ago Meed Ward held several workshops to which she invited the public and those developers who were prepared to sit down and talk specifics about a project they were developing. Meed Ward will complete her write up, pull together all the data and put it in a format that is uiseful to the public. There will be a final public meeting and then everything gets passed on to planning staff who may issue a report on what they heard. staff played a large part in the public meetings – they were as interested as Meed Ward was in what the developers had to say and what the public wanted built in their city.
On balance they were a very worthwhile effort. The final report, which Meed Ward hopes has an impact on the Official Plan Review.
Meed Ward is concerned about the Ontario Municipal Board hearing on the ADI Group development that has been unveiled for the bottom of Martha at Lakeshore Road. Many feel the proposed structure just doesn’t fit and the staff report the city put out made that point quite clearly.
Unfortunately, city council never got to the point where they were able to vote on the staff report which makes whatever case the city has just that much weaker.
ADI filed their appeal to the OMB on the 180th day after they had submitted their proposal. Everyone knew what ADI was going to do – that is the way they do business and what they did was perfectly legal. It is situations like this that bother Meed Ward and many people in the city.
Council she argues is not in charge – we are following – not leading. For Meed Ward the Martha – Lakeshore Road development is a game changer. Meed Ward puts it this way: “There is something wrong with our issues management process” and she wants to see changes made. “We are handcuffed with the current process” she said.
 Standing up and being counted – Councillor Meed Ward has asked for more recorded votes than any other member of Council. Knowing what your elected member is doing for you is an essential part of the democratic process. City council meets next on the 14th of September.
 By Staff
August 25, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
An interesting piece of news drifted in over the news wire. The Burlington Economic Development Corporation wants to be one of the top five cities in Canada for start-ups and innovation.
Now there is something that is bold, direct and the results of the effort are measureable.
The Burlington Economic Development Corporation (BEDC) has entered into a partnership with Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) to support Ontario start-ups through their career accelerator, FreshInsights Consulting.
That seems like several layers of bureaucracy but Frank McKeown, BEDC’s Executive Director explains that the partnership is rooted in OCE’s SmartStart Seed Fund, a program that offers young entrepreneurs in Ontario the opportunity to access seed funding and skills training to grow their companies. In addition to the grant, successful SmartStart applicants are awarded $5,000 to spend on training or consulting services.
 Mayor Rick Goldring The BEDC will be involved in that training – which they will deliver through FreshInsights Consulting, a corporation formed by the city – the early thinking apparently came out of the office of the Mayor – and has been housed within BEDC.
The $5000 grant emerging entrepreneurs will be given will get spent with FreshInsights – meaning that organization has some revenue –that gives that win-win-win phrase a whole new dimension, doesn’t it?
Most people know there are clusters of young people out there with what on the surface look like great ideas. Most of them need a good dose of number crunching to determine if the ideas have some sustainability to them.
As one of OCE’s official training partners, FreshInsights Consulting has become one of the most sought after training partners. During the most recent application approval process, more than ten SmartStart companies opted to spend their grant dollars on consulting services with FreshInsights – that ten worked out to 40% of the applications – not bad when seen in terms of market share.
FreshInsights will be working through the balance of 2015 to provide these start-ups with market research and business plan development.
 “The opportunity to work with more start-ups through SmartStart is a fantastic opportunity for FreshInsights,” said Claire Morrison, Program Director at FreshInsights Consulting. “We are working with such a diverse range of companies, including retail, food and beverage, software and technology industries. Not only does the partnership allow us to support even more recent graduates through our unique consulting model, we also get to support so many talented entrepreneurs who are choosing to grow their business in Ontario.”
What no one is saying is that by being involved in these emerging corporations Burlington is in a position to help them make the city home – we get first dibs at these young people.
McKeown added that, “The partnership between OCE and the BEDC operated career accelerator, FreshInsights, is only going to help Burlington get closer to achieving its goal of becoming one of the top five cities in Canada for startups and innovation. It is a step in the right direction for creating an innovation space that fosters collaboration, mentorship, and business growth right here in Burlington.”
 Frank McKeown, former Chief of Staff to Mayor Rick Goldring and now the Executive Director of the BEDC has taken on the direction of an interesting training program. Developed under the BEDC in 2011, FreshInsights Consulting was established as a way to retain top talent working in Burlington, while providing professional, cost-effective consulting services in market research, strategic marketing, and business planning to local companies. The program has seen more than 25 recent graduates through the program, and they plan to continue expanding their client base across Southern Ontario.
Learn more about FreshInsights Consulting at www.freshinsightsconsulting.ca and BEDC at www.bedc.ca. You can also follow them on Twitter @FreshInsigtsCo and @BurlingtonEcDev.
This is a good news story – let’s see where they are in a year.
Cine Starz Upper Canada Place
460 Brant Street
WWW CINESTARZ.CA
SHOWTIMES August 28 to Sep 3 , 2015
FANTASTIC FOUR PG
Fri to Thur 11:15A 1:10 3:10 5:10 7:10 9:10
JURASSIC WORLD PG
Fri to Thur 11:00 1:10 3:15 5:30 7:20 9:35
VACATION 14A
Fri to Thur 11:00 1:20 5:20 7:45 9:40
SOUTHPAW 14A
Fri to Thur 11:10 1:25 5:15 7:15 9:30
INSIDE OUT G
Fri to Thur 11:10 1:00 3:30 5:25 7:20
IRRATIONAL MAN 14A
Fri to Thur 3:40 5:30
PAPER TOWNS PG
Fri to Thur 11:00 1:00 7:30
SPY 14A
Fri to Thur 3:00 9:15
AMY 14A
Fri to Thur 3:00 9:30
 By Pepper Parr
August 24, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
City council has decided that the completion of the Official Plan Review (OPR) will not get done until the Strategic Plan has been completed – the rub with that decision is that at the rate the Strategic Plan is going it may not be seen until sometime in 2016.
Council has some critical issues it must make decisions on – the budget has to get done, there are some key hiring decisions to be made and the significant seven that lead the city have to decide if they are going to manage to get along any better now that they have all had a vacation. Don’t bet on the latter.
The Committee of the Whole, which is the Standing Committee that is shepherding the Strategic Plan to its completion, isn’t going to meet until sometime in the middle of October – and the amount of data that the consultants hired to help with the creation of the plan are going to dump on the table could choke a horse.
The amount of research is staggering. We will get into that in a paragraph or two – what is disturbing is that when Council approved the research assignment the man charged with the responsibility of bringing jobs to the city wasn’t in the room.
 Frank McKeown, on the left explains a concept to Councillor Paul Sharman during the creation of the Strategic Plan in 2011. Frank McKeown, executive director of the Burlington Economic Development Corporation, (EDC) didn’t learn of the meeting date until a few days before it was to take place and he didn’t have a copy of the agenda – he had no idea how much research work the city had asked for. A lot of what was being asked for had already been done by McKeon and his organization.
McKeown intends to eventually scrub the data he has collected and post it on the EDC web site for anyone to see and use. Any self-respecting economic development department would do that. Quite why Burlington has hired someone to ask all these questions boggles the mind a bit – don’t we already have that information?
The left pocket clearly wasn’t talking to the right pocket – odd because everyone at city hall knows who McKeown is and have a high regard for the quality of his thinking and the manner in which he closes files and gets things done.
McKeown was the Mayor’s Chief of Staff for two years. He threw in that towel when he found that city hall wasn’t the kind of place where a lot of real work got done. Not because of the people doing the work – it was a leadership issue for McKeown – there wasn’t all that much of it.
There are several who are asking if all this work being done to put a Strategic Plan in place makes any sense. Ward 1 Councillor Rick Craven thinks that what was created in 2011 is just fine – he’d go with that – but his view apparently isn’t shared by the rest of council.
 Councillors Meed Ward and Taylor tend to ask a lot of questions and are open to making the process more open. Taylor once threatened to walk out of Council and talk publicly about a report the majority of Council wanted to keep confidential. Councillor Meed Ward finds herself asking if the Strategic Plan needs just a refresh or does the city need a full reboot on what they created in 2011.
The ward two councilor was in an auto accident and was not able to take part in a number of standing committee meetings – including two that were critical – the first look at the draft of a Master Transportation Plan and the meeting at which the KPMG Strategic Plan assignment was threshed out and agreed upon.
The auto accident resulted in some serious concussion damage from which Meed Ward says she is recovering nicely and expects to be in fine form when Council resumes its work in September.
The research assignment sets out five major hypothesis: one labelled Economic, then 2 – Land Use Planning and the Built Environment, 3 – Demographics, Growth and Health, 4 – City Operations, Governance and Powers and 5 – Culture
A Primary hypothesis is examined along with several subsidiary hypothesis and the question the researchers would focus on. There were some pretty heavy duty questions asked.
Two concerns jump out: why is this level of work being done at this stage – should have been done at least six months ago – and when you look at the questions one is moved to ask: Don’t we already know the answers to these questions.
The KPMG approach argues that 1 – Trade-offs shape strategy, 2 – Strategy involves choosing among incompatible alternatives, each of which is attractive, 3 – Failure to choose puts the organization in a situation of becoming “stuck in the middle” and 4 – Straddling problems stymie the success of a clear strategy.
 The city hired consultants to take a deep (which means expensive) look into five areas: The economy; Land Use Planning and the |Built environment, demographics and Growth, City operations, governance and Powers and Culture. The KPMG approach to problem solving includes:
1. Focus analysis around key hypotheses
2. Triangulate around difficult problems to identify the right strategic levers
3. Keep analytical priorities aligned with key hypotheses
4. Manage precision of analysis to account for economies of effort.
Here is the Economic: Principal Hypothesis: The City of Burlington can transform its economy.
Q: What are the principal economic trends of the City of Burlington?
Q: What are the principal economic trends in the region?
Q: What are the relative economic attributes of the City of Burlington?
Q: What are the key policy levers that can be deployed and the materiality of their effect on economic outcomes?
Subsidiary Hypothesis: The City of Burlington can repatriate jobs and careers to within the City boundaries.
Q: What is the geography of employment for residents of the city?
Q: What is the current labor force composition of the city?
Q: What are the policy levers that can change the location of careers and jobs in the context of the regional economy?
Subsidiary Hypothesis: The City of Burlington can create more good paying jobs for Burlington youth
Q: What are the policy levers that can promote jobs and careers that keep younger residents in the City of Burlington?
Q: What is the current employment profile of ‘youth’ in the City of Burlington?
Q: What is the job trajectory for GTA youth over the short, medium and long-term?
 It was about 15 months ago that rural Burlington began the discussion about what it wanted to be. Some things were clear – others not as clear. The early draft of a vision got put on a huge board and for the most part the community liked the look of what they had said to each other. Will this kind of data find its way into the hands of the consultants helping the city work up its Strategic Plan. Subsidiary Hypothesis: The City of Burlington can promote and integrate the rural economy within its boundaries.
Q: What are the current characteristics of the rural economy?
Q: What is the likely trajectory of the rural economy in this region in the short, medium and long-term.
Q: What are the key regional institutions that could play a role in developing the City’s regional rural economy?
Q: What are the key policy levers the can affect the rural economy?
Subsidiary Hypothesis: The City of Burlington can help create an “innovation economy”
Q: How have other municipal jurisdictions created the conditions for an innovation based economy?
Q: What are the key characteristics of an innovation based economy?
Q: What are the policy levers that Burlington can deploy to create such an economy?
Principle hypothesis: City Operations, Governance and Powers:
The City of Burlington can reform is governance, operations and increase its powers to better implement its strategic vision,
Q: What are the key areas where the City of Burlington does not have the appropriate discretion to implement policies?
Q: How does, and in which areas does provincial policy constrain the City of Burlington?
Q: How does relationship with neighboring municipalities enhance or constrain the City’s ability to deliver services for its population?
Subsidiary Hypothesis: The City can deliver services in a more efficient and effective manner.
Q: What are the current challenges of service delivery?
Q: What are the different models that could be used to administer the city and deliver services more effectively?
 A rapt audience listened to an overview of a city budget. What they did was listen to what the city had already decided to do. Is there a better way to involve the public. Subsidiary Hypothesis: The City can incorporate its citizen’s into decision making and program delivery in a more effective manner.
Q: How have other jurisdictions incorporated citizens better into government decision making and policy delivery?
Subsidiary hypothesis: The city can increase its financial capacity to deliver services invest in infrastructure or cut taxes
Q: How much of the City of Burlington’s spending is discretionary in the short, medium and long-term?
Q: What is the revenue mix of the City over the short, medium and long-term?
Q: What are the current revenue levers?
Q: Are there innovative ways to fund, finance and deliver services being deployed in other jurisdictions that could be used by the City?
Subsidiary Hypothesis: The City can find innovative ways to fund, finance and deliver infrastructure.
Q: What are the infrastructure challenge that are not matched with the correct infrastructure financing, funding, delivery and maintenance tools?
Q: What are the key infrastructure needs that are not being addressed in the short, medium and long-term?
Q: The current provincial planning regime is impeding economic growth in the province?
Q: Value can be unlocked from municipal assets to fund strategic priorities?
 A lot of research has been done on how to make culture a more vital part of the community. Research not withstanding there are still some really stupid cultural decisions being made. Principal Hypothesis: Culture – The City of Burlington can develop cultural institutions and attractions that enhance the quality of life of its citizens.
Q: What are the current cultural institutions and their level of popularity?
Q: What are the current and nascent cultural endowments of the City?
Q: What are the mechanisms through which the City can support and grow an impactful cultural community?
There are three other areas that were to be given the KPMG research treatment. McKeown will be meeting with that crew in February – expect to see some changes.
McKeown should have been in the room for that June meeting. Who slipped up on telling him about the meeting?
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