 By Ray Rivers
December 20, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
The federal government spends $43 billion (2011/12), which is about half of all direct program spending, on human resources. That averages out to an annual $115,000 salary for each of the 375,000 full time employees who make up your federal government.
Those salaries, according to the Parliamentary budget officer, have been growing at a faster rate than either the private or the provincial public sector, notwithstanding the federal government’s promised austerity program.
 Workers in the Ontario Public Sector also do well, receiving higher pay and bigger raises than their private sector counterparts. This can be a bit of an unfair comparison, given the extensive breadth of private employment.
Still the difference is striking, with an average hourly pay rate of $34 for the public servant as opposed to $25 across the private sector. And, this gap has been widening over the years.
Nobody objects to value for money and most of us believe that a better educated employee should generate improved productivity. So part of the reason for the gap may be that Ontario public servants, on the whole, are much better educated than their private sector counterparts, with relatively twice as many holding university degrees (41% to 20%).
The Harris government introduced the ‘Sunshine List’ which identified those public servants earning over $100,000. Today that list includes almost 90.000 employees, having grown by 39% since 2009. While public sector incomes were once said to be pulled-up by the private sector it is evident that the reverse is true today. Generally one can assume that the public employee is as well or better paid than most equivalent jobs in the private sector, including many non-government senior executives.
So what about all those outrageous and improper executive expense claims? The 2015 Pan-Am games are an important economic event for this province and for Canada. There is a 17 member organizing committee, which will have been paid about $21 million of your hard-earned dollars by the time the games are on. The CEO, alone, pulls in over half a million a year.
 In spite of what most people would consider generous compensation these characters have been submitting their personal expense claims as if they were understudying Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin. Hundreds of airline flights over were made the last four years, including one to watch a wake-boarding championship in the Caymans . Three thousand dollars was paid for fourteen limo rides from the airport ($238 per trip)?
And why do we have to send this ‘high-priced help’ back to school to take courses in strategic planning and writing – at public expense? What were they thinking when they purchased over a thousand dollars worth of Harry Rosen dress shirts, ostensibly for team uniforms? There was a wine tasting, loads of lunches with alcoholic beverages, and don’t forget the overpriced orange juice. Though, caught squirming in the cookie jar, they eventually paid-back some of the claims, again taking a page out of the Duffy/Wallin playbook.
This expense claim business is not limited to the Pan-Am crowd. The Hamilton Spectator uncovered that our Hamilton-centered health executives (including Burlington) had racked up over $2 million dollars in expenses over the past seven years. Fully a quarter of these expenses were claimed by the top executives, including the CEO of Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) who earns close to $700,000.
Corruption might be too strong a word but greed pretty well sums it up. We have been taught that money is the major motivator for an individual to perform; and that high salaries are the price we have to pay for good executive decision-making. Yet, we paid over a million dollars to the CEO of Hydro One whose organization was brutally criticized for incompetence by the provincial Auditor General in her latest report. So much for that theory!
So if paying big bucks to a CEO doesn’t guarantee a well run organization, what does it promote? Entitlement? I’d be very surprised if HHS couldn’t find someone else who could run that organization at least as well, for half the salary they’re now paying – much as Burlington’s Joseph Brant does.
Lofty titles, fat salary packages and lavish expense accounts might be very comforting to the recipients of these perks, but personal achievement, peer competition and helping the public likely play a much more important role in motivating public leaders and getting results. Mike Harris was on to a good thing in creating the ‘Sunshine List’ and it is unfortunate he didn’t go the extra step of capping all public service executive salaries, as the Province is rumoured to be considering today.
Yet, the truth is that Ontario’s public sector is already leaner than every other province in Canada. And the government actually has fewer public sector workers and spends less on them per capita than any other province. After all, being the most populous province in the union gives us the advantage of economies of scale.
 But Ontario is in the process of fighting a massive deficit and combating an overbearing public debt. So while reducing senior executive salaries will not solve that problem on its own, it would be a good start. And better expenses management should be a no-brainer.
 Ray Rivers writes weekly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was a candidate for provincial office in Burlington where he ran against Cam Jackson in 1995, the year Mike Harris and the Common Sense Revolution swept the province.
Background links:
Federal Employment Provincial Employment
Pan-Am Games Pan-Am Expenses
Pan-Am Expenses More Pan-Am Expenses Still More Pan-Am Even More Pan-Am –
Sunshine List Average Earning by Province
Capping Exec Salaries Motivating Employees Capping Exec Salaries
 By Staff
December 17, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
Burlington is being considered a major celebration community for the Pan Am Torch Relay, and has asked its citizens to help choose a local resident to carry the Pan Am flame on behalf of the city when the torch relay comes to Burlington next year.
 The Burlington Pan Am Community Engagement Committee accepted applications and nominations until December 14th.
The public is now being asked vote on a short list of names selected by the committee. Torchbearer finalists are, in alphabetical order:
Kelly Arnott
Jaden Bailey
Chris Chandler
Dana Cooke
Oubaida Ikharbine
Dawn Izzard
Kaitlin Jones
Sonia Reynolds
Adam Smith
Alicia Thomson
Ashley Worobec
Eric Xu
There is something either ironic or fitting that Kelly Arnott be on the finalist list. Ms Arnott runs some of the most successful races in Ontario. Just last week she held the Santa Claus run which brought hundreds of Santa Claus clad runner streaming through the city.
Residents are invited to vote for Burlington’s community torch bearer.
“The person with the most votes will become the community torch bearer to run for Burlington when the flame comes to the city during the Pan Am torch relay.” said Alan Magi Executive Director of Capital Projects for the city.
Voting will close on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015. The selected torch bearer will be notified in mid-January.
The relay begins in May 2015 with the traditional Aztec lighting ceremony at the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico.
The Canadian journey for the flame starts with its arrival in Toronto on May 30, 2015. It will then visit five cities in Canada, as well as 130 communities across Ontario.
 By Pepper Parr
December 17, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
The Strategic Plan was introduced to a Council Stranding Committee.
There is a revised policy or service standard.
The updated Strategic Plan incorporates the principles of the BEDC which they believe will deliver the outcomes the City desires or, in some cases, will redefine achievable results envisioned by the economic Development Corporation.
The updated Strategy includes clear and specific key performance indicators (KPI’s) for all areas as well as defined tactics to achieve these results.
 Zoned commercial, spitting distance to the QEW, minutes from downtown – owner wants to rezone and make it residential. The BEDC has had a difficult four years. Under the direction of the former Executive Director, it was never able to get beyond commissioning report after report. Significant Burlington companies chose to leave the city – at least one was taken from us right under our noses.
The Board decided that it had had enough and dismissed the Executive Director in 2013 – on All Hallow’s Eve – and began taking a look at what was needed. A high powered group of executives was brought in as advisors and with all kinds of input from former city manager Jeff Fielding they looked as if there wasn’t a business they didn’t want to get into.
When Fielding bought a one way ticket to Calgary some of the high flying ideas were given a reality check and a new board was installed; they appointed Frank McKeown, formerly Mayor Goldring’s chief of staff, as the Executive Director.
It is amazing what sensible, proven executives will think of when they feel they have their hands on the public purse and not all that much in the way of genuine oversight. A one point they were going to create close to half a dozen corporations to get into property acquisition and development. Some sanity prevailed.
Through the plan development process,  nor did it conclude that BEDC should compete as land developers with the private sector. The decisions were based on the following:
The City has very little surplus land. Land Development models in other cities are usually based on significant surplus land or considerable land available at very low cost. The Board and City will continue to evaluate the opportunity in this area.
The scale of potential property available does not justify immediate investment in corporate restructure. Other alternatives exist to achieve the desired results with lower risk.
A Strategic Plan was developed to address the key economic community needs which were defined as:
a) Investment and assessment growth; b) Growing local employment opportunity and c) Accessible Industrial Commercial Institutional (ICI).
The BEDC has adopted key strategies to pull this off:
Develop an Economic Vision for Burlington that will fit into the City’s Strategic Plan. The plan will have very specific goals and tactics that are well researched and can be executed.
Develop and maintain critical economic data, reports and policy; this will require an upgrade in capacity but will form a long-term basis for better insight and decision-making.
It is vital that Burlington increase the investment at the Industrial, Commercial Institutional level – relying on the residential portion of the tax base is a recipe for a financial disaster. To make this happen McKeown will be bringing a tighter focus and process to market attraction.
He will develop new partnerships and strategies to work with land owners, developers and the commercial real estate sector. This includes the development, in coordination with land owners and developers, of a 5 year investment profile around potential development and a proactive approach to local development opportunities.
The BEDC is being restructured around services. We must be able, said McKeown to answer the question – How can BEDC help grow our business?
Services being evaluated include access to senior government funding, accessibility to McMaster research for Small Medium Enterprises (SME’s), export growth support, support for start-ups, and key peer networking opportunities. These will be largely partner driven.
A surplus land marketing pilot with the City will be given a go. BEDC will begin marketing identified surplus lands under a pilot model. The City and BEDC will establish principles around land development opportunities that will allow BEDC to develop land development/marketing competencies in a low risk focused way. Surplus lands will remain under City ownership in this process until the transaction is completed.
 The property IKEA chosen for their new location was quite deep but problems with the Ministry of Transportation and difficulties with the Conservation Authority killed the plans. Will the BEDC be able to overcome this kind of problem? There is a reason for the BEDC being located outside city hall – they want to operate at the Speed of Business. Culturally, BEDC will re-tool its processes and activities to respond at the Speed of Business to business and opportunities. McKeown always had a problem with the molasses that seemed to be attached to every document that circulates through the building.
The Burlington Chamber of Commerce will take over the networking events the BEDC used to hold. They were always very well attended but the new BEDC doesn’t see that as a part of their core business. They will work with the Chamber on the events but not be in bed with them – at least not at the networking level.
The BEDC’s 2015 Expectations: 1 Surplus Land Marketing/Sale Pilot, 2 Annual Economic Report established and published, 3 Targeted Market Attraction Established, 4 Stakeholder Process established with land owners and developers – QEW Corridor, 5 Five Year Development Profile, 6 Economic Vision and targeted activity in defined re-development areas. Lakeside Plaza was given as an example.
That is one impressive list. If McKeown wrote it – then it is doable. Memo to the BEDC board – think bonus for the lad.
The proof is in the pudding isn’t it? Many of the areas of focus for BEDC are new or currently unmeasured. The organization has identified how we will measure the organization and will begin immediately to track, measure, and report on these identified measurements. Over a short period of time we will have benchmarks established and performance results published. McKeown didn’t say how often.
 The BEDC needs help telling its story. The one thing it has never had is a commitment to be open with the information they collect. Some of it is sensitive – but certainly not all of it. They have tended to take a proprietary approach – not unusual in the business world.
A dose of retail thinking would serve the BEDC well – and a little less clubbiness wouldn’t hurt. There is a tendency to think they have all the answers – they don’t.
For once we have an agency that isn’t pushing its snout into the public trough and asking for more money. The BEDC proposes to operate in 2015 at the existing base budget level. As we evaluate the pilot land marketing activities we will have a revenue measurement which we will use for future evaluation. In addition, the development of the Economic Vision will include an evaluation of other revenue opportunities including strategic development opportunities.
When McKeown got into involving the public in economic development his report said: “Earlier discussions regarding BEDC reorganization identified some public engagement requirements. BEDC is not reorganizing the corporation at a level to trigger this requirement. BEDC will be actively engaging stakeholders and the public during their development of the Economic Vision.
Not exactly an invitation for the public to voice an informed opinion is it?
The Strategic plan says is has a new Board is in place and fully engaged. BEDC has quickly established an operating plan to address the economic needs of the community and will continue to measure performance and report to Committee on its economic achievements.
 Current BEDC Executive director Frank McKeown tended to have to battle with ward 5 council member Paul Sharman who brought experience as a consultant to the table. Not much in the way of proven operational experience which McKeown does have. The Burlington Economic Development Corporation 2014 – 2015 Board of Directors
Gary Graham, Chairman, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP – Partner; Rick Goldring , Mayor; Paul Sharman, Burlington Council member; Jack Dennison, Burlington Council member; Ruta Stauskas, Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd. – Vice President, Human Resources; Bonnie Prior Appraisal Institute of Canada – Ontario – Executive Director; Randall Smallbone, Portland Investment Counsel – Dealing Representative; J. Michael Hanna, Kylin Developments Inc. – President; Gordon Kack, MHPM Project Managers Inc. – Vice President – Operations; Dr. David Conrath, Conrath Communications Ltd. – President; Scott Stewart, City of Burlington – General Manager, Development and Infrastructure.
This time around there is a board that is in place to get a job done; no longer are there a bunch of people who sat at the BEDC board table to protect the interest of the organization they represented. A welcome change.
The ball is now in McKeown’s hands – that assumes the Board he reports to acts as a Board and not a group of people with personal agendas. McKeown has a proven track record – he can pull this off if he is given the room and the resources. He is financially prudent and knows what risk is and how to measure it.
The biggest unknown for McKeown is what his former boss is likely to do. City Council has to create a vision that is real and compelling. They need to provide the sizzle – Frank McKeown will sell the steak.
 By Pepper Parr
December 17, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
What’s the rush?
Has your city Council let the holiday schedule deprive you of an opportunity to review what they have done at their Standing Committees before they rubber stamp their deliberations at Council where bylaws get passed?
The Standing Committee of Development and Infrastructure met on Monday and got a solid briefing on what the Economic Development Corporation has planned. There was a public meeting on a sub-division application for Twelve Mile Trail.
 Route 6 and 52 will stay as the are for now. Took close to an hour to make that decision. There was a review of transit service for the Headon Road part of town – routes 6 and 52 during which Councillor Dennison managed to use more than half an hour trying to work out all the twists and turns the buses on that route should take.
There was a lot of huffing and puffing over what a municipal council can and can’t do with development applications.
The following day, Tuesday, the Corporate and Community Services committee met and accepted the staff recommendation to sell the lands along the edge of the lake between Market and St. Paul Street.
 Mayor Golding mastered the art of the photo op during his first term of office. He is photogenic and that is apparently enough to get elected. We heard, for the first time, what the Mayor’s thinking was on that momentous decision. It was kind of wishy washy.
The Standing Committee approved 56 pages of changes in rates and fees – those are dollars that you will pay for the use of facilities that your tax dollars paid to have built.
The chair of each standing Committee diligently explains that the Committee does not make final decisions – they make recommendations that go to Council where final decisions are made and by laws are passed.
The practice in Burlington has been for there to be a full week, usually more, for the public to make themselves aware of what has been recommended before it goes to Council.
The public then has some time to think about was has been recommended and appear at Council if they want to offer a different opinion.
In a democracy the elected would welcome – maybe even encourage the public to appear and make their views known so that the elected could make decisions informed by the public.
Some might suggest that the media is in place to inform the public. And it is – but there has been a strange twist. The Burlington Post usually has a reporter at the media table covering meetings.
Tina Depko –Denver covers city hall for the Post – she is a good reporter – she frequently does a better job as a reporter than I do.
She wasn’t at the media table on Tuesday. Why?
We learned at the end of the Standing Committee meeting that Ms Depko –Denver has been hired by the Mayor as his Manager of Communications.
We congratulate Ms Depko-Denver and hope she serves the Mayor well and that she chooses to take direction from the Junius quote atop the Globe and Mail editorial page: “The subject who is truly loyal to the chief magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures”.
Junius, a pseudonym, wrote letters between 1769 and 1762 to inform the public of their historical and constitutional rights and liberties as Englishmen.
The Depko-Denver appointment probably means that the Post will not carry much in the way of news coverage unless they pick up the meeting from the webcast.
The Gazette will publish several pieces on the two Standing Committee meetings and go into some depth on the atrocious decision to sell waterfront property.
City Hall will close down at the end of the day on Tuesday, the 23rd and we won’t see anyone other than the people who keep the building secure until after the New Year. The holiday schedule for city hall is CLOSED between Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014, reopening on Monday, Jan. 5, 2015. Sweet!
 Is there a good reason for not deferring the Council meeting until after the New Year? Well one reason is that would be a lot of time for people to become informed and perhaps “mad as hell” and decide they don’t want to be treated this way anymore.
We did get the municipal government we apparently wanted less than 60 days ago.
What have we done to ourselves?
By Pepper Parr
December 16, 2014
Burlington, ON
It was a train wreck in the making. Two powerful engine going in different directions on the same track.
During the selection of the Chair for the Corporate and Community services Standing Committee WHO nominated Meed Ward as the vice chair – that vote wasn’t quite unanimous – Council Craven sat on his hands.
 John Taylor to serve as Chair of Standing Committee that will handle the budget proceedings. Then Councillor Sharman nominated Councillor Craven as chair who accepted readily. Then Councillor Dennison nominated Councillor John Taylor as chair. For a few moments we watched as the divide in Council was plainly and brutally evident.
The vote was called: 4-3 for Taylor as chair. A crisis had been averted.
Councillor Taylor did have a question. He asked if the Chair of the Corporate and Community Services Committee had to vote for the budget.
City Clerk Angela Morgan explained that the Chair of a Standing Committee normally does not vote unless there is a tie.
One gets the sense that Taylor can see problems with the budget this council may have to pass.
Councillor Craven is the best Standing Committee chair this city has – he just can’t work in the same room Meed Ward works in. Having them serve as chair and vice chair of a Standing Committee would be painful to watch.
 Councillor Rick Craven, centre, with a copy of the 2013 budget on a memory stick. He lost out to Councillor Taylor for the chairmanship of the Standing Committee on Corporate and Community Services. Many months before Burlington got itself into election mode Councillor Craven casually commented that he had been thinking about running for Mayor.
He didn’t throw his hat in the ring this time. Is he lining himself up for that job in 2018? Too early to tell – but there is a sense about him these days that makes one wonder.
 By Staff
December 16, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
The Burlington Community Foundation announced early this morning that they have received a total of 310 applications for financial support from the August the 4th Flood Victims.
A total of $905,000 has been raised which will result in $2.9 million available for distribution.
 By Pepper Parr
December 16, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
City Council met for the first time as a Standing Committee since they were all re-elected.
One of the first tasks they complete is selecting the chairs and vice chairs of the four Standing Committees.
Last night Paul Sharman was chosen as chair of the Development and Infrastructure Committee with Blair Lancaster as the vice chair.
The Committee of the Whole will have Councillor Craven as the vice chair and Councillor Jack Dennison as the Chair. Craven said he would accept the vice chair of the COW with some conditions. He wanted there to be a half day workshop for Council members on the use of the Procedural bylaw and how Standing Committees should be run.
Craven, who understand the Procedural bylaw better than anyone else on Council and has used it to his advantage on more than one occasion, want to see more discipline on how Standing Committees are run. He also wants Council members to deal with their own wards and not butt into what takes place in other wards.
Councilor Meed Ward sees her self as a Councillor for the city with specific responsibilities in ward 2. Easy to see why those two don’t get along.
Expect some very messy debate on this issue. Councillors Craven and Meed Ward don’t get along all that well personally and each has a decidedly different view as to what a Council member should do.
Meed Ward tends to run her ward with a very wide open approach – Councillor Craven is more comfortable with everything buttoned down and under control.
 Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman can be smooth as silk and tough as nails – he chooses which he wants to be to suit his purpose. The original bluster we saw during his first year in office has moderated a bit. In 2011 Sharman was exceptionally vocal on the budget that was passed that year. With a number of important development applications coming before Council we can expect Sharman to voice some strong opinions.
This Council is very frustrated over what they feel they are not able to do with development applications that get presented to the Planning department.
A meeting in November on the application to build two towers on Pinedale in the Appleby Mall on New Street drew 300 people who were very unhappy at this kind of development in their community. Sharman said both he and many of his colleagues were frustrated about the procedure they had to live with.
There are several issues at play here. The province has said Burlington must grow. Councillor Craven pointed out that with the urban boundary ending at Dundas – the growth can only happen with intensification. That’s the price we have to pay said Craven if we want to keep that rural part of the city.
Councillor Meed Ward told her fellow council members that “people want to be part of the vision casting” which she added could be very exciting. Right now she said Council is battling the one offs that get brought to the Council Chamber. “Community should be at the centre of what we are doing – Council are the enablers”, John Taylor broke into one of his mile wide smiles and said he supported Meed Ward’s thinking “whole heartedly”.
The biggest issue he heard at the door during the election, said Taylor, was intensification. “They don’t understand it and they fear it.”
The province has said Burlington must grow. The projection is for the city to grow to 220,000 people between 2031 and 20141 with an additional 55,000 people shortly after that.
 Councillor Meed Ward wants the public deeply involved in creating the vision for the city. Councillor Taylor supports that view. No clear yet where the Mayor stands on this – he does want the public to fully understand what intensification will mean to the city. Mayor Goldring said “we have to engage the public in this issue”. He put forward a Staff Direction “… for a “fully defined and integrated communications program to provide community engagement, dialogue and participation with Burlington residents as to how and why we will transition development in urban areas of the community.”
Expect some heavy debate on this one as well. Council doesn’t yet have a cohesive vision and they are far from agreement as to how they should go about working with the public to create one.
With neither a vision or a clear understanding and deeply rooted commitment to engaging the community, Burlington has four interesting years ahead.
By Pepper Parr
December 16, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
For some reason getting application forms for funding under the province’s ODRAP program became a mad dash to the finish line on Monday. Some people said they didn’t even know about the program that made funds available for victims of the august 4th flood that dumped 191 mm of rain on the city during a single day.
Where have they been?
 Burlington Community staff worked through the pile of applications to get everything entered into the data base the Claims Committee will work form as the approximately $2.7 million is now distributed to the flood victims. At the close of business yesterday the Burlington Community Foundation sent an email to members of Council saying they had received 305 applications. That number may get revised when a reconciliation is done.
On Monday close to 100 applications arrived – some consisted of a box with a collection of receipts.
Forms that were complex and confusing were still being picked up on the Monday.
With $2.7 million available for distribution and 305 people applying there would be just a little under $9000 for each applicant. That is a rough approximation. The available funds will be distributed based on the merits of each application which will now be reviewed by the Claims Committee made up of Mark Preston, Preston Insurance Services; Bruce Russell, Wardell Insurance; Nancy Swietek, Dan Lawrie Insurance and Rick Burgess, Burgess Law Office. It is their job to approve a claim.
The Claims Committee now has to buckle down and basically adjudicate on each application.
Eight weeks from now they will have to have completed their task and distributed all the funds.
Colleen Mulholland, president and CEO of the BCF will be in a position to distribute some of the funds before the end of the year. Those who got their applications in early will be processed quickly.
There are still a few formal cheque presentations to be done but anything that comes in after the close of business will not get matched by the province.
The ODRAP program required a community to raise funds locally which the province agreed to match on a two for one basis.
 Completing the forms was an exhaustive task. The BCF had staff on hand to help people work their way through the document. More than 300 applications were received. To date, the people and business of Burlington raised very close to $900,000 which when matched by the provincial contribution produces $2.7 million that will now be distributed to those who filed applications before the close of business on Monday.
The funds raised locally was a mammoth effort by individuals and large corporations. Burlington’s banks came through for its customers.
There are some in the retail side that seemed to forget just who their customers are. Those selling the washers and dryers and the new furnaces perhaps didn’t know where to send their cheques.
By Pepper Parr
December 16th, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
It was a short terse announcement.
There will be a meeting of City Council at 11 am on Tuesday December 16th:
Single item on the agenda:
Discussion concerning the City Manager recruitment.
There will be two to three minutes of public session then they will move into Closed session and get an update from the interim city manager Pat Moyle on where he is in his search for a city manager to replace him.
Moyle has a commitment to be in his car with his wife and on their way to Florida February 1 – and there is no way this side of the 49th parallel that he is going to get out of that.
Will Moyle be ready to make a recommendation?
Or will he pass along a list of his top three choices and leave it to Council to decide what they want to do?
If past experience is any guide – Council will have met off site somewhere and gone through interviews with the candidates Moyle put forward.
 General Manager working his way through the 2011 Strategic Plan with council and staff. One of the candidates will most certainly by Scott Stewart, current General Manager for Development and Infrastructure and the guy who has carried the city ever since Jeff Fielding caught a flight to Calgary and took up residence in that city.
Stewart can certainly do the job and if the past three years mean anything – he has earned a crack at it.
What isn’t known is – who is Stewart up against?
 Scott Stewart on the left worked tightly with former city manager Jeff Fielding. Stewart had the job of making all the Fielding ideas work. Is this Council likely about to make another Jeff Fielding type decision? There had to be all kinds of telltale, red flag signs during the Fielding interviews. Stewart was a candidate in last city manager search. Many thought he should have gotten the nod then.
We might get some interesting news Tuesday evening.
And if the choice is for someone from somewhere else – a local moving company might get a call.
 By Pepper Parr
December 15, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
There will be some heavy reading for the newly elected Council. Director of Finance Joan Ford is going to deliver a copy of the Budget book to Council members December 23rd. It is usually a thick publication.
 Citizens meeting at the Art Gallery and going over a budget that has basically been decided. Burlington’s version of citizen engagement. The Budget book will come in two versions; one based on the format used previously and another in the new Service Based Budget format that will focus on Results Based Accountability.
The city has done two surveys – asking people what they want in the way of services and what they are prepared to pay. There was a survey done with the members of the Insight Panel and another that could be answered by anyone who was prepared to take the time to go through the document.
Getting a grip on what the public wants and what the city can afford to spend is the challenge this year. In the past we heard Mayor Goldring put out a number on what he wanted to keep the tax rate increase at – he’s not said anything about what he wants to see for 2015.
At a previous meeting of the Corporate and Community Services Committee the Mayor did mention that “we are in the ditch to the tune of $2 million”.
 Joan Ford, the city’s Director of Finance knows where every dollar comes from and where every dollar gets spent. When the money she needs is not forthcoming – she refers to that as an “unfavourable variance”. Director of Finance Joan Ford came back with a reply that only an accountant working for a bureaucracy would utter: Ford explained that the amount was not $2 million but $1.8 million and that it was an “unfavourable variance”.
Try that one in the private sector.
The shortfall is the result of delays in getting funds from the province to cover the cost of cleaning up after the ice storm LAST Christmas. The public sector does move at a different pace.
The early version of the claim the city was making on the province was for $2.9 million which included money spent by the Regional government. There was apparently a conversation between the city and the Region – suggesting perhaps that the Region do their own paper work?
It has been the city’s practice to hold a public meeting after the budget was basically set. A slick booklet was prepared for those taking part in the public meeting, usually held at the Art Gallery of Burlington.
City hall staff now realizes that the Burlington boundary doesn’t stop at the QEW and is looking into the possibility of holding public meetings at Tansley Woods and or at the Haber Recreation Centre.
By Pepper Parr
December 15, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Is there a developer in town with a small, small zoning problem? Wants to use some retail space on Brant Street as a sales office for a forthcoming, high end 28 storey structure that has yet to get past the Planning Department.
 The corner of Brant and Pine could be a sterling location for a property sales office for planned high end units looking over the lake. The city has apparently taken the view that the purpose is for use of the space as an office which the current zoning doesn’t permit.
If there was ever an argument the developer should win – this is one of them. Sure there will be some clerical administrative work done but the purpose is to sell those units in the building they want to put up at Lakeshore Road.
Hard to find anyone on Council that loves this development idea very much but is it not a bit of a stretch to say the space will be an “office” when it is clearly a sales office.
Forcing the developer to go to the Committee of Adjustment for the variance is pushing it a bit.
Looking at who is sitting on the Committee of Adjustment this session is interesting.
We will update this story when the good folks at the Committee of Adjustment at city hall are at their desks.
By Pepper Parr
December 14, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON.
The Burlington Community Foundation office on the South Service Road will be open until 5:00 pm on Monday which is the last day that applications for financial support under the province’s ODRAP – Ontario Disaster Relief and Assistance Program.
The application is not short; Governments don’t give money away easily, although they have been known to spend it wastefully.
 There were streets in Burlington that had a bin in front of almost every house. The financial assistance is for those who either had no insurance or were under insured. Many people in Burlington live in a part of the city where they cannot buy insurance at any price. Those in the Regal Road area who are close to Tuck and Roseland Creeks were hard hit – and not for the first time.
There are still people who qualify for support who apparently don’t know about the program. There is a family that chose to pay cash for much of the labour they used to repair their home. How they paid for the repairs is not that big a concern; was the work done and is there evidence to show that the work was done?
The Burlington Community Foundation hired an insurance adjustor to guide them through the process. The adjuster works for the Foundation – not some insurance company. They are there to help people work their way through the forms and complete the application.
 Mark Preston on the left and Rick Burgess on the right; both are members of the Claims Committee that will oversee the distribution of funds to flood victims The adjuster passes the applications along to a Claims Committee made up of Mark Preston, Preston Insurance Services; Bruce Russell, Wardell Insurance; Nancy Swietek, Dan Lawrie Insurance and Rick Burgess, Burgess Law Office. It is their job to approve a claim.
The Claims Committee has a delicate task. They have to determine first just how much money is available for distribution. They take the amount that was raised by the community and get an additional $2 for every $1 raised by the community.
That will determine the amount that is available for distribution. Collen Mulholland reports t there were 115 applications in the office on Thursday and that applications were coming in at the rate of 10 a day. She expects something close to 200 applications to be received.
Some applications may not be complete – there are people at the Burlington Community Foundation who understand the forms and are in place to help. But they cannot help if they don’t have an application – and Monday December 15th is the close off date.
Mayor Rick Goldring commented that: “While it is invisible to most of us, there are still people rebuilding their homes and their lives all these months later.” He encourages everyone who is eligible to work through the Burlington Community Foundation to make a claim.”
To apply for funding, visit and click on Make a Claim. If you need help with the application process, call 905-639-0744.
 By Pepper Parr
December 13, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Vince Rossi had no idea that it was going to come to this.
For years he had been telling the Regional government and the city of Burlington that he was a federally regulated air park and that they had no jurisdiction on what he was doing – so take a hike.
No one at city hall or the region for that matter took the time to look into the matter. There wasn’t much going on at the air park – but then Rossi started trucking in tonnes of land fill.
 Trucks taking untested landfill onto the Air Park site. The trucks were creating all kinds of problems for the people along Appleby Line and they complained to city hall and then they began to ask questions. Where did that landfill come from? What was known about the quality of the landfill. Who signed off on all this?
The city did some digging, realized they were in way over their heads from a legal perspective ad went looking for outside help. They hired lawyer Ian Blue – who took on the case. The city sued the Air Park; the Air Park sued the city – the two cases were made into one. Justice John Murray found for Burlington and the Appeal Court backed him up.
Before the ink was dry on that decision the Air Park filed an appeal. There wasn’t much ink to on that document. The hearing was very short and the decision very clear. The Air Park did indeed have to adhere to municipal bylaws for that part of their operation that was not strictly aeronautic – runways and the like.
The Air Park eventually filed a site plan application that is now being reviewed by the city.
Then the federal government made a move and added a section to their second omnibus budget implementation bill that changed significant parts of the Aeronautics Act to allow municipalities to have much more impact and influence – let’s call it what it is – CLOUT on what gets done at the Air Park.
The City of Burlington was drawn into legal proceedings as a result of issues arising from increased truck traffic volumes onto the Airpark site; environmental concerns respecting the quality of fill being trucked onto the site, possible impacts on groundwater quality, and drainage impacts on surrounding lands; and the negative impact on the surrounding resident’s quality of life.
Back in June, 2014, the Mayor was directed to work with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to lobby the federal Minister of Transportation and other relevant Ministries to develop a process to allow municipalities to have input on airpark land filling operations and expansion plans.
The proposed amendments would provide the Minister with the legal authority to prohibit the development of an aerodrome, expansion or change to the nature of the aerodrome’s operations. The Minister’s authority to prohibit development would be used in circumstances where there is either a risk to aviation safety or if it is not in the public interest, in contrast to the current authority that requires both conditions to be met.
The proposed amendments would also permit the development of regulations requiring aerodrome proponents to consult local land use authorities, affected stakeholders.
This would introduce an obligation for proponents to engage stakeholders and provide an opportunity for those possibly affected by development to voice concerns and work with proponents to mitigate identified concerns.
 Vince Rossi – president of the Air Park. These proposals would bring to an end the consistent thumbing of the Rossi nose to city council. Rossi who has difficulty allowing for the views of others to enter into his plans will, if the legislation is passed have to meet with people, listen to people and make changes.
Vince Rossi’s life just got a little more difficult – and the people of rural Burlington can now have a seat at the table and put their views forward.
The amendments as proposed by the Government to the Aeronautics Act will give the Minister of Transport greater discretion to intervene and make orders prohibiting the development or expansion of aerodromes or any change to their operation, where such development or expansion or change in operations is likely to affect either aviation safety or is not in the public interest.
Current Minister of Transport Lisa Raitt appeared to be very close to Vince Rossi and appeared reluctant to take up the complaints of the Region and Burlington. Raitt is the federal member for Halton.
Burlington heard precious little from its MP Mike Wallace. As a back bencher he does what the Minister tells him to do –and Wallace isn’t one to get too far away from the party line.
The proposed changes give the Governor in Council the authority to make regulations requiring aerodrome proponents to consult land use authorities and affected stakeholders.
 This is the kind of development that will not be possible once the Aeronautics Act amendments are given Royal Assent. There was a time when Barbara Sheldon could see Rattle Snake Point from her kitchen window – today – she looks at a pile of landfill – that has never been tested,she can barely see the Escarpment.. The people of rural Burlington aren’t home free yet – but the lay of the land has changed significantly. The changes were in a government bill – they are not likely to be challenged all that much. It will be interesting to see if Burlington’s MP chooses to make a presentation at the committee hearing the bill will have to go to.
It is going to be even more interesting to see how the city of Burlington and the Rural Burlington Greenbelt Coalition react to this change.
Vince Rossi could not have seen this coming. Here is what he is now faced with:
Amendment to the Aeronautics Act
Section 4.9 of the Act is amended by adding the following after paragraph (k):
(k.1) the prohibition of the development or expansion of aerodromes or any change to the operation of aerodromes;
(k.2) the consultations that must be carried out by the proponent of an aerodrome before its development or by the operator of an aerodrome before its expansion or any change to its operation;
Ouch!
By Staff
December 14, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Time to figure out if you and that horn are ready for the big stage.
The Sound of Music Festival has announced that they will be accepting submissions until February 15, 2015 through Sonicbids.
 Small Town Pistols played in 2013
The Festival celebrates Canadian and local musical talent, with a preference to performances with a repertoire of original music.
Local submissions are defined as “at least one member must reside in Burlington full-time”. Please indicate if you are local in your submission.
Submissions will only be accepted from Canadian performers with a preference for performers who have not played at the Festival in the past 2-3 years. Artists’ EPKs must be complete and up-to-date, and the required questions must be fully answered. Compensation is provided and will be negotiated at the time of booking.
Due to the high volume of submissions, only those selected will be contacted.
For more detailed information CLICK here.
 By Staff
December 13, 2014
BURLINGTON 13, 2014
Here’s one for you.
 Developer plans to ask city council for permission to build 28 storey structure on land zoned for 8 storeys. In a tweet a developer said:
“This year we have supported so many deserving charities. It is imperative that we give back to the community that has given us so much.”
There are some people in the downtown core who would take issue with that tweet and suggest replacing the word “given” to “taken”.
Any guesses as to who the developer is?
Think Lakeshore and Martha.
By Pepper Parr
December 13, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
It is a grind. Each step the city takes with the people who run the Air Park has a high level of frustration and often the sense that nothing is getting done.
At the last meeting of the Development and Infrastructure Standing committee, staff provided an update. Gruesome is the best way to describe the progress.
 The dumping of landfill on the Air Park site without site plan approval has been on the city’s agenda for more than five years. Two court cases – both won by the city – and there still isn’t an approved site plan. What the city does have in its back pocket is a decision from Superior Court of Ontario saying they have the right to require the Air Park to adhere to the city’s site plan bylaw and a decision from the Ontario Court of Appeal confirming that right.
Along with those two court decisions the city has about $60,000 in costs recovered. That $60,000 by the way is going to look like chump change when the public learns about just how much the city has spent fighting these court cases. Ian Blue, QC, the lawyer who represented the city is good, but he is also expensive.
The staff report summarizes issues that have been addressed or are in the process of being addressed since the last Airpark Update on September 22, 2014. Molasses moves faster in the winter.
City staff continue to have discussions with the Airpark’s consultants regarding the submission of a Site Alteration Permit application. They met with representatives from S. Llewellyn & Associates, consultants for the Air Park and Pinchin Environmental Ltd., the city’s consultants to review the requirements of a Risk Assessment.
 Vince Rossi at a community meting held in a barn a couple of hundred yards from the end of one of the airport runways Middle of October 17, the city wrote Vince Rossi a letter expressing concern regarding the failure to submit an application for a Site Alteration Permit. The city advised Rossi that if a submission was not received by November 14, 2014, the city would proceed with enforcement its new site plan bylaw that was approved at City Council on September 22, 2014 and is now in effect.
Guess what? The application for a permit arrived the day of the deadline along with the cheque to cover the filing fee – thought to be in the $10,000 range.
Now the city and the consultants get to wrangle over how much of the application is going to be approved. We do know now that the city is not going to call for the hauling away of all the landfill. It is believed that some of the landfill on the Appleby Line side of the Air Park will have to be taken away so that the Sheldon property gets back some of the site lines it once had. It is likely to have enough of the landfill removed to allow the owner to see Rattle Snake point – something the owner hasn’t actually been able to see for more than five years.
 More than thirty feet of landfill rises from the edge of the Couzens property on Appleby Line. They want every cubic foot of it removed. The Couzen’s property owners, just up the road from the Sheldon property, are hanging tough – they are apparently not interested in half measures and they don’t want the city to pussy foot around. If the landfill was put there without a permit – then take it out.
That is not going to happen. Some of the landfill will get taken out but that site will never be what it was before the trucks started rolling in.
What isn’t at all clear is just what will the Air Park be in the future? It isn’t economically sustainable as a piddly little aerodrome.
The city now has the authority to enforce its bylaw. How effective and firm they will choose to be is unknown – the wider community is going to have to rely on community organizations to keep the feet of senior people at city hall as close to the flames as they can – without crippling them. The Rural Burlington green Coalition has its work cut out for them. Their challenge is to widen their circle of adherents and get people south of the QEW involved. Most people in Burlington don’t understand what the issue really is.
Getting information from different provincial government agencies has been like pulling teeth from a hen. In October 2014 the City received correspondence from the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) in response to the City’s appeal to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request that the City made to the Ministry of the Environment (now the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MOECC)) in 2013
 The city wants to know more about the measuring of the groundwater on the Air Park site. The Air Park doesn’t appear to want to share that information. The city wanted a copy of a groundwater monitoring program developed for the Burlington Executive Airport lands. Someone with an interest in what happens with the Air Park took the position that the information was “private” and could not be released to the public. It is believed that the “someone” was the Air Park.
The Information Privacy Commissioner indicated that the appeal is in the inquiry stage, and that representations had been received (as requested) from the MOECC and two affected parties.
The IPC correspondence provided the non-confidential portions of the MOECC submissions as well as a summary of the submissions made by the two affected parties. It was also outlined in the letter that the City had a deadline of November 13, 2014 in order to make submissions the City deemed relevant.
City staff got there submissions in by the deadline. Once the submission process is complete, the IPC will issue a decision with respect to the appeal, which may include an order to resolve the outstanding issues.
And if you understood much of the above the city might want to hire you. There are people in the Planning department who now know more about Privacy Information than they ever wanted to know. Several have hair that is much greyer than it used to and several have less hair.
The issue is getting a copy of the groundwater monitoring program developed for the Burlington Executive Airport. The city has a vital interest in how the groundwater that works its way through tonnes of landfill that they really don’t know where it came from. They want to ensure that the groundwater is effectively measured and analyzed. There is a lot of jerking around going on with this one; one wonders just whose side the provincial government is on with this one.
To muddy the waters even more the MOECC has told the city in an Oct 7, 2014 email, that a public meeting on this issue was not necessary.
One hopes that the MPP Eleanor McMahon will be all over this one. McMahon is a strong environmentalist and has a firm hand inside the velvet gloves she wears.
 The Air Park continued with the widening of the main north-south runway during the summer. King Paving, which does a lot of work for the city, sent a letter explaining in some detail that there was nothing done that wasn’t permitted in terms of hauling soil onto the site. King Paving did bring in hundreds of truckloads of landfill onto the site in the early stages. There was, at that time, some discussion about requiring King Paving to remove everything they brought in.
Something as small as a wheel barrow draws the attention of those who live next to the air park. When they saw windrows of soil along the west side of the runway alarms were raised . These piles were excavated soil from the runway widening base excavation. They were used to complete the grading of the lands adjacent to the runway and taxiway.
The material hauled into the site was recycled asphalt grindings and granular material for construction of the runway widening base. There was no “soil/fill” material hauled into the site and no “soil/fill” material was hauled off of the site.
Currently, the permanent installations of the runway lighting is being completed. The construction of the runway widening and its appurtenances (that is the city’s word – not ours) is not within the City’s jurisdiction and did not require any City-issued permits or approvals.
The Region seems to have left the room Air Park discussions take place in; there has been no correspondence at all from the Region on this file.
Conservation Halton staff have had discussions with the Air Park’s engineering consultant regarding permit submission requirements. City staff continue to communicate and coordinate with CH staff.
 Barbara Sheldon looks at 32 feet of landfill less than 50 feet from her kitchen window. How much of that landfill is the city going to require be moved before issuing a site plan permit? The installation of drainage and siltation control works will be required on the Airpark site. The Site Alteration Permit application is required to include these details. The delay in getting the site plan application into the planning department resulted in the city advising the Air Park’s consultant that these works are required immediately and must be installed to the satisfaction of the city.
The city is now coordinating its response to the problems with the Air Park owners with the other agencies and levels of government involved.
It took too long for the city to actually do something about the land fill that was being dumped without a permit – but to their credit – once they were made fully aware of the significance of the problem they moved quickly and effectively.
During the early stages of figuring out what was going on at the Air Park the city looked through the documentation they had – not much – but one report on file had been signed off on by a staff member who was involved in the first round of the construction of the pier.
By Pepper Parr
December 12, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
Donna Zaffino has been a Gazette reader for some time. She is a frequent commenter and can be, how shall I put this, direct at times. We love her for that.
When we did the piece a few days ago on the contest the Burlington Downtown Business Association was holding for the best dressed window Zaffino agreed with the position we took and said she would make a point of looking at the windows to see how the retailers did this year.
 Zaffino thought the use of Christmas tree branches was attractive and innovative – very much in the season.  Zaffino thought this was one of the best windows this year.  Son of a Peach, a pizza locale took over their part of Pine Street with traditional lights and Christmas wreaths  Dickens really upped their game this year. At night the decorating they did along with their neighbour makes that part of Elizabeth Street look quite festive.  This pathetic store front is that of the city’s Tourism office. Have you ever seen two more limp Christmas wreaths in your life. Sure make you want to visit this city.
The look and feel of a street are probably more important than the products that are on sale in the stores. People are impacted by what they see and that impact determines what they do. If a street is bright and cheerful people feel bright and cheerful.
If a street is decorated during a festive season people pick up the spirit if that season.
Here is Zaffino`s report: “I walked around downtown taking photos of the business that are participating in the contest.
I was not terribly impressed with any of the displays, especially any of the clothiers.
There were a few around that aren’t in the contest that may have been better.
I am not sure if Different Drummer is participating or not. Both nights I didn’t see anything. Maybe I show up after Ian turns off the display. I tried on Tuesday around 6:30 and again tonight.
There are only three windows that stood out for me and have stayed in my imagination. They are Mirella’s, The Olive Oil Dispensary and Anise Apothecary.
1) Mirella’s for the creativity of using cedar boughs as flared skirts on their mannequins.
2) The Olive Dispensary for the vibrant colours and of course the classic little train set.
3) Anise Apothecary for simplicity and the soft blues and white. Nature helped it along today by covering their little evergreens under the window in snow.
I think Wardel’s Insurance was nice but I can’t remember what it looked like nor what the theme was. I recall that it was bright and stood out from a street view.
 The Works decided to focus on just their window this year. Last year the wrapped the store like a Christmas gift box. Given their position on Brant – a stronger message was better  Rayhoon used a nicely decorated Christmas tree they brought in and electric lights to give both their restaurant and Village Square a solid holiday feeling.  Given the position this retailer commands on Brant Street a little more imagination would have made a big difference.  Both the city and the Hospital Foundation did such poor job of creating a sense of season with their store fronts. I wasn’t able to photograph three businesses. Black Pearl, Omega and Deeth and Co. I won’t be able to get them until Saturday.
I’d like to take pictures of places that weren’t on the contest list who did some really nice work. Look for more from me later in the week.
Thanks for the assignment it was fun.
Related articles:
2013: Retailers forget that it is Christmas
BDBA works to make store fronts more festive.
 By Pepper Parr
December 13, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
This police report was a little fuzzy right from the beginning.
A police officer is doing traffic checks on King Road. The driver of a car that was expected to pull over flees.
Here is how the police describe the event:
On Friday December 12, 2014 at approximately 10:00am, a Halton patrol officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a suspected suspended driver in the area of Plains Rd and King Rd in the City of Burlington. The suspect drove away from the officer, northbound on King Rd and subsequently struck an oncoming southbound vehicle. The driver fled on foot from the scene pursued by the officer. The suspect was arrested a short distance from the scene. The accused and officer suffered minor injuries and treated at hospital. No other injuries sustained by other parties in the southbound vehicle.
 At that time the police report: The Special Investigations Unit has been contacted and has not confirmed whether or not they will invoke their mandate and take carriage of the investigation.
King Rd between North Service Rd and Enfield Rd will be closed indefinitely for investigation.
It isn’t clear as to why the SIU would be involved. There is no mention of a weapon being discharged. A police officer chased a fleeing suspect; appears to have wrestled him to the ground in the process of arresting the man,
There appear to be some injuries; the suspect is taken to the hospital. Where is the need for the SIU?
On Saturday the driver of the car is cleared by the hospital with minor non-significant injuries. The scene of the incident is released by the police and the public can now use the road.
There is no elaboration on what the “non-significant injuries amounted to; that’s something the defense lawyer will bring up during any trial.
The police identify the driver of the car as Burlington Resident Brian Alan NAPPER – 34 years of age. He is charged with:
Drive while Disqualified
Flight while pursued by Peace Officer
Dangerous Operation of a Motor Vehicle
Fail to Stop at Scene of Accident
Assault with Intent to Resist Arrest
Fail to Comply with Probation Order
NAPPER will be held for a bail hearing later today.
In a later report the police say: The Special Investigations Unit “has NOT been contacted yet”.
The police issued three different reports on this arrest. They seemed to be having a problem over whether or not they were going to involve the SIU.
Was there more to this story? Was the suspect badly hurt by the pursuing police officer? Was undue force used?
If the police pull you over – you roll down the window and give them your driver’s license. If you don’t have one – they’ve got you. If you attempt to outrun the police officer he is going to go after you – and if he has to tackle you and get handcuffs on you – then that’s what you get for attempting to flee.
The back and forth on bringing in the Special Investigations Unit is what is confusing.
By Pepper Parr
December 11, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
One of the things the internet does is give those with something they want to say a much bigger megaphone.
Hydro costs have been a bugbear for Ontarians for some time – one of the Harris government’s gifts to us.
The natives are still biting back – another petition. The organizers of this one ask:
 Hydro in Ontario has been broken for some time. It is essential that it be fixed – the solution is not yet clear, “If you have a billing complaint with hydro one, please make sure you file a complaint with the Ombudsman as he begins his investigation into Hydro One. Click here to file your complaint.
“And if you haven’t yet, please make sure you share your concerns about Ontario’s broken hydro system directly with the Premier, the Minister of Energy, the Ontario Energy Board and Hydro One.
The problem with the petition is its source. Randy Hillier was part of the government that created the problem we have today. Is the petition part of his drive to at some point lead the Progressive Conservative party in Ontario? His views and solutions to some of the provinces problems would take Ontario back to where Mike Harris put us and to where Tim Hudak wanted to keep us.
The province is going through a profound change; the core of its economic engine is threatened and in some cases fractured. General Motors is moving its assembly lines to Mexico.
The province faces a huge demographic shift; we are now a much more demographically diversified people and we have a growing seniors’ population that we have to care for at considerable cost.
Adjusting to these changes is going to take political leadership that looks forward and not backwards. Randy Hillier is as backward looking as you can get.
The petition has merit – the guy behind it; questionable.
A Petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:
Whereas, the cost of electricity in Ontario continues to escalate;
And Whereas, other charges associated with electricity, such as delivery, regulatory, global adjustment and debt retirement charges make electricity increasingly unaffordable;
And Whereas, these costs have imposed a significant hardship on ratepayers and driven industry and jobs out of Ontario;
We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:
That the Premier and the Minister of Energy reduce the waste and duplication in Ontario’s electricity sector and other necessary steps to lower the cost of electricity so that Ontario’s electricity prices are competitive with other jurisdictions.
Sign here:
 Ray Rivers
December 11, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
The provincial Auditor General (AG) is an essential part of a system of good government. Being independent and reporting directly to the Legislative Assembly, the auditor “conducts value-for-money and financial audits of the provincial government”. The 2014 report targeted a number of areas including infrastructure, child care and energy (smart meters).
 The office of the AG is not inexpensive, chewing up over $15 million dollars annually and employing about a dozen people each year. This year’s report weighed in at 600 pages, more than twice the size of the New Testament. And though the language is simpler than what we find in the Bible, there is so much redundancy and superfluous description interspersed among all the pretty graphics, that it is might also be as good a remedy for insomnia as some find in the pews of their church.
I have been involved in audit processes at both federal and provincial levels over the years. For the most part the auditors work closely with government officials, and in many cases simply regurgitate what they were told by officials – making for few surprises for the officials. That seems to be the case when this year’s report examined the processes for building infrastructure; 74 building projects were considered.
The AG noted that the “tangible costs (such as construction, financing, legal services, engineering services and project management services) were estimated to be nearly $8 billion higher than… if the projects were contracted out and managed by the public sector.” That waste of money seems logical given the complications and extra rewards required for private sector involvement.
But Infrastructure Ontario officials justified this additional expense arguing that “the risks of having the projects not being delivered on time and on budget were about five times higher if the public sector directly managed these projects.” They estimated this risk at $18.6 billion making the, so-called, alternate financing partnership a no-brainer for them. But are they really serious – five times?
Me thinks that something is rotten in the state of the Ontario public service. Not much wonder the recent billion-dollar gas plant relocation fiasco was handled so casually. Why isn’t the management at Infrastructure Ontario saying WTF, or better still doing something to change that statistic (five times the risk)?
 The technology was going to let the consumer make choices. Following the Harris/Eves government screw-up of the energy file (de-regulation and privatization), politicians jumped onto the smart meter bandwagon as a panacea for spiraling electricity costs. The AG attacks the decision-making process and much of her criticism centres on a cost-benefit feasibility study performed, after-the-fact. Imaginary numbers (guesstimates) lie at the heart of her criticism.
 They were going to change the way we used electricity. In addition, she fairly critiques the lack of oversight on implementation, accountability and general management, particularly for the Hydro One empire. That smart meters may be an essential piece of infrastructure in a transition towards more efficient energy delivery and providing greater control of one’s hydro bill to the consumer is not really something the AG considers, nor perhaps should.
And sometimes the AG isn’t very insightful or even helpful, as when she concluded that there was a “need to provide ministry and agency staff with training to help them do their work more consistently and effectively” for the Child Care, Parole Board, Nominee, and Residential Services for People with Development Disabilities programs. Isn’t that just good counsel for all employees, regardless of program?
 The provincial government used some very creative accounting to approve a loan to complete a building in downtown Toronto that was far from fully rented. The AG also followed up on whether the government had paid attention to previous recommendations and whether the culprits had cleaned up their acts as a result. Of the 77 recommendations, requiring 170 actions, from the 2012 report, she noted that 81% of had been “either fully implemented or are in the process.”
Impressed with this statistic, one might question whether the AG shouldn’t be brought in earlier – to help program managers’ better design and implement their responsibilities. But that would, of course, shift her role to being both the prosecution and the defence, and immerse her office in a huge conflict of interest.
As the report notes, the mandate for the AG is fairly broad but it is limited to the activities within government ministries and agencies. So it is at some risk to her office that the AG ventures into criticizing general public policy, as she does when slamming provincial deficit and debt levels. “Ultimately, the question of how much debt the province should carry and the strategies the government could use to pay it down is one of government policy,” she notes.
So why does she even mention it? It is not like this provincial government is unaware that we have an emerging debt problem in Ontario. Since her interference is not for informative purposes, what is she doing? The good office of the AG compromises its credibility and authority once it decides to shed its independence and go political, as she has clearly done.
If Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk wants to attack public policies instead of doing what she is being paid for – to evaluate programs – she should join a political party. In fact there is an opening right now for leader of the Progressive Conservatives.
 Ray Rivers writes weekly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was a candidate for provincial office in Burlington where he ran against Cam Jackson in 1995, the year Mike Harris and the Common Sense Revolution swept the province.
Background links:
AG on Debt AG on Private Partnerships
AG on Smart Meters AG Report
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