Identity Theft « Burlington Gazette - Local News, Politics, Community

Two sides of the minimum wage issue - facts and vested interests collide in the public debate.

By David Goodings

January 10th, 2018

BURLINGTON, ON

We live in an age of misinformation and partisan grandstanding. The latest examples—and there are many—have to do with raising the minimum wage in Ontario to $14.00 per hour at the beginning of this year and to $15.00 a year from now.

Articles on the minimum wage hike tend to be either pity-the-poor-workers or pity-the-small-businessperson. In the first category the authors stress fairness to workers and criticize businesses that can survive only by paying poverty wages to their employees. The second category emphasizes the likelihood of huge job losses and sympathizes with small businesses trying to survive in a highly competitive economy.

How does one navigate through these troubled waters? Let’s start by trying to find answers to a few key questions. First, does the overall economy suffer? Secondly, who benefits and who loses? Thirdly, have the media been responsible in reporting the situation?

To answer the question about the overall economy and potential job losses it is necessary to look at employment data gathered by Statistics Canada or its counterpart in other countries. Fortunately, economists have not been idle in doing this. Numerous studies [1] [2] have found that increases in the minimum wage have had no measurable effect (after a few months) on the level of employment. This finding is not something that can be altered or fudged according to one’s political bias; employment data are as factual as the data on graduation rates from high schools.

Regarding who benefits and who loses, the minimum wage earners—more than a million in Ontario—have much to gain, though they will still be below the official poverty line, even working 40 hours a week. The economy also gains because people with low incomes spend any extra money right away, benefitting the local economy. The losers are small business owners who, for whatever reasons, are unable to raise their prices. (Tim Horton’s franchise holders are forbidden by their parent company, Restaurant Brands International, from raising prices.)

Of course, if they find it necessary to raise their prices, so will their competitors, so they are not at a competitive disadvantage. Nevertheless, some small businesses may close or reduce the number of employees or reduce their hours and benefits. While that is regrettable, it may indicate that those businesses were operating unsuccessfully in a competitive market. The minimum wage increase may have the effect of eliminating some businesses that are not viable.

Finally, with regard to the media, it appears that many newspapers and other sources have tried to report both sides of this contentious issue, though I believe they have given more coverage to the plight of small businesses because the business community makes by far the most noise.

There is another aspect of the media response, however, that is troubling, namely, that news reports and headlines are sometimes alarming and lacking in context. An example is a recent research report from the Bank of Canada that predicted a slowdown in job growth amounting to 60,000 jobs across the country. This is a predicted loss of jobs being created in the future, not a loss of existing jobs. How was this reported? From the CBC: “Minimum wage hikes could cost Canada’s economy 60,000 jobs by 2019.” And from the front page of the Toronto Star: “Wage hike could cost 60,000 jobs, Bank of Canada says.”

These look like bad news stories, but what is missing is the fact that the Bank’s overall conclusion is positive, because “the 0.7 per cent increase in the level of aggregate real wages more than offsets the 0.3 per cent decrease in total hours worked.” An illuminating analysis of the Bank of Canada’s report has been given by Michal Rozworski of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. [3]

The above example shows the importance of context. There is also, of course, the “spin” that editors put on news stories or opinion pieces. For some, Kathleen Wynne and the Ontario Liberal government are, finally, doing the right thing by helping the working poor in a meaningful way. For others they are simply opportunists with an election coming in five months’ time.

My opinion, for what it’s worth? One should weigh the benefits for over a million workers—less worry about paying the rent and feeding the kids, less reliance on food banks and unhealthy food, greater ability to pay for prescription drugs, afford transit, and see the dentist about a painful tooth—against the difficulty faced by a relatively small number of business people unable or unwilling to adapt through raising prices. It’s definitely time for a change.

David Goodings

David Goodings was born in Toronto and studied mathematics and physics at University of Toronto and Cambridge. He was a Professor of physics at McMaster University for thirty years and has been a resident of Burlington since 2001. He is an active member of Poverty Free Halton and Living Wage Halton. Married to Judy for 37 years which may be why his favourite piano piece is: Ain’t Misbehavin’ by Fats Waller.

Sources:
[1] Minimum wage hike won’t bring ‘doom and gloom’, economists say. Open letter by 40 Canadian economists endorses proposed provincial wage increase. Sara Mojtehedzadeh, Toronto Star, July 4, 2017.

[2] Wage Mythology. The minimum wage and the impact on jobs in Canada, 1983-2012, by Jordan Brennan and Jim Stanford. Report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, October 2014

[3] Media get it wrong on Bank of Canada minimum wage study. Michal Rozworski of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in Behind the Numbers:
https://behindthenumbers.ca/2018/01/05/media-get-it-wrong-on-minimum-wage/#.Wk_CMOZvTts.facebook

Previous article.

Message that your email is on hold might prompt you to respond - look at who the message came from. A clumsy attempt at ID theft.

IDTHEFT 100X100 By Staff

November 20th, 2017

BURLINGTON, ON

When you see a notice like this in your electronic mail box you are at first startled and you want to do something immediately to ensure that there is not a problem with your email.

The instinct is to respond.

Look at the email address the message came from.

If you didn’t have a problem before you saw the email notice – you will most certainly have one if you do respond. You will have unwittingly given them access to your email.
This is what Identify Theft is all about.

Identity theft still taking place - don't join the list of those who have been seriously damaged financially.

By Staff

November 2, 2017

BURLINGTON, ON
This from people who claimed to be the TD Bank – anyone who opened that pdf would have invited all kinds of grief into their lives.

Whenever you see something you are not absolutely certain about – take a pass on it.

To ensure uninterrupted processing of payments after November 1st, 2017, please refer to the document available thru this communication.

For more detailed information please open the attached PDF below. You will need a password to open the secure document.

YOUR DOCUMENT PASSWORD: wbb71dx4

You are now required by law to review these document(s) immediately or your commercial banking account will be suspended until further notice due to new regulations.

We thank you for your cooperation and appreciate your business.

TD Business Banking Management,
TD BANK GROUP – Web Business Banking

The biggest red flag is the sender – this email came from an offshore location.

‘TD Commercial Banking <relationshipmanager01@birch.net

Banks do not contact you this way. These thieves prey on stupid greedy people – don’t prove that you are one of them. If in doubt – don’t.

Yahoo issues introductions on how to protect yourself - a little late for that.

By Staff

October 5th, 2017

BURLINGTON, ON

Most of us read about the Ancaster resident who was arrested for being the mind behind the hack into the Yahoo site.

Karim Baratov, a dual national of Kazakhstan and Canada, was arrested at his home in Ancaster, Ont. by Toronto Police and handed over to the RCMP.

Fast cars – fast women – those days have come to an end for Karim Baratov

He hasn’t seen anything outside a jail cell since.

The size of the computer hack was massive – billions of people had personal data compromised. We will be dealing with the fallout from that hack for decades.

Probably well after Baratov get out of an American prion, assuming he is convicted.\
Governments and police forces around the world are struggling to get at least a bit of a grip on the identity thefts taking place.

Baratov is accused of being paid by two Russian spies to break into the email accounts of targeted individuals, according to an early release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

He and his lawyers put up a fight to prevent him from being extradited to the United States where he was to stand trial.

When it became evident that the extradition was going to take place the Canadian lawyers threw in the towel and off he went to California where the full force of their criminal justice system will be thrown at Baratov who is a dual national of Kazakhstan and Canada.

The massive compute hack lowered the price shareholders got.

Yahoo was in the process of being sold to a large American telecommunications firm (Verizon) who ended up paying a lot less for Yahoo once the hack was made public.

Corporations that get hacked have in the recent past been slow to inform the public. That is beginning to change.

Karim Baratov with one of the several cars he owned.

Yahoo recently released instructions for people who have a Yahoo email account on what to do to protect themselves.

If I had a Yahoo account I would be moving out of that site quick, quick, quick.

If you decide to stay with Yahoo – here is the link to the instructions issued.

Mayor hitting the radio waves to tell the Burlington story - part of it is apparently bubble wrapped.

By Pepper Parr

September 9th, 2019

BURLINGTON, ON

He is in the process of becoming a media star, the “go to guy” if you want a comment on how municipalities are going to handle the demand for housing.

Mayor’s 2015 Christmas card picture.

The Mayor was on CBC twice this week- once with Anna Maria Tremonti on The Current, where we learned that the Mayor was one of the Regional Council members who voted for a program that would have the Region paying for a large part of the cost of a back flow valve, that prevents water from your home’s sewer line from flowing back into the plumbing when there is heavy rains. On August 4th 2014 there were heavy rains.

The Mayor told Tremonti that he as one of the Regional Council members who put his hand up and voted yes.

Unfortunately for the Mayor he was not one of the people who took advantage of that opportunity and when the city was severely flood on August 4th, 2014 he got five feet of water in his basement while his next door neighbour, who had a back flow valve was reported to have been dry.

Having told the The Current audience (the program is broadcast nationally) the Mayor was then heard on CBC’s Metro Morning with Matt Galloway where he explained what the city manager meant when he said Burlington was not going to be able to build any more single family dwellings because the city has run out of land.

Land use in Burlington is made up of 50% rural, 34% traditional suburban housing, 11% employment lands and the 5% of the city that is not going to have any high rise structures.

The Mayor told the world that a decision was made in 2006 to protect the escarpment and not allow the creation of sub-divisions north of the Hwy 407 – Dundas roadways.

The full interview is HERE

During his conversation with Galloway the Mayor said there was a range of views on the change that is taking place in the city. He used the phrase “bubble wrapped” to describe those who did not want to see any change in the structure of the city.

Interesting interview – worth listening to. You can arrive at your own conclusions as to whether this Mayor reflects your view of your city.

In one of his tweets the Mayor appears to be telling his followers that he is going to run for mayor in 2018. Why else would he put quote marks around the word “running”

The Mayor is clearly upping his game and doing everything he can to get a bit of a leg up on the race for the Office of Mayor that will be decided in October of 2018. Expect at least two people to run against him.

Sometime ago he wanted the citizens of the city to know that he was a transit advocate and once rode the bus to work – and posted a selfie so that people would know he was actually on the bus.

The releasing of this picture to the public is something the Mayor might have run by his communications adviser.

Thieves continue to attempt to get access to your bank account - YOU need to be vigilant.

By Staff

July 7th, 2017

BURLINGTON, ON

You can almost set an alarm clock by the rate at which these bank scams come along.

People tend to trust their banks; when they see an email with a bank logo included it is natural to assume the message is from your bank.

You need to check the content of the email – and if there is any doubt – delete the message.

The banks are as overwhelmed as the bank customers are over ID theft and email scams – it is a problem that is out of control and won’t get any better until internet traffic security is improved.

What is it about the mail below that tells you it is fraudulent? First banks don’t use email to advise their clients – they will call you.

Second look at the address the email came from. It wasn’t’ a bank.

It isn’t real. It is an attempt to get at your bank account.

This apple is not going to improve your health - it could damage your wallet.

By Staff

May 14, 2017

BURLINGTON, ON

What is wrong with this email? It says it is from Apple – I am not an Apple user – so why would I respond to it?

Also – it is not from Apple.

The clues – and you need to learn to look for them.

Emails like this are flooding the internet – doing a lot of damage to the finances of individuals and costing the banks and the credit card companies a small fortune – billions.

The address it came from – does have the word apple in it – but it isn’t from the Apple organization.

The mis-spelling of the word security is the biggest clue. Major corporations don’t make that kind of mistake – should it happen they would correct it in second.

Should you click on any of the places they ask you to – you have started the process that could well end up with you losing your identity to someone else – who can do you a lot of harm. How much damage can they do – check out this story we published.

Be careful, be cautious. when you cross the street you look both ways – do the same with email. The internet has brought us huge changes – and with those changes come some problems. If the email you get looks to good to be true – that’s because it isn’t. The thieves are relying on your gullibility and your greed.

Another dangerous scam - identity thieves send out millions of these - and some people get caught.

By Staff

April 27, 2107

BURLINGTON, ON

This bank scam is pretty raw and direct.

The message looks pretty official but the fact is that Scotia bank does not send emails like this.

If you are a Scotia Bank customer and bank on line you will see the following message. They don’t do what the email at the top of this story does.

How do you know the message is not from the bank – look at the address of the people it came from. The sender of this message has created and used a name that looks like it could be from Scotia Bank –

ScotiaBank <Secure.eMail@scotiabanksecure.com

But it isn’t – they have included the word secure to lull you into thinking it is real. Many Scotia customers might get lured in by this.

Pay careful attention to the address an email came from – and if in doubt – don’t!

Tens of millions of phony email messages about personal bank accounts are sent out every day. They are all attempts to steal your money.

By Pepper Parr

April 12th, 2017

BURLINGTON, ON

They are relentless.

Millions, tens of millions of email like the one below get sent out to lists of email addresses.

When you get one – read the address it came from very very carefully – they are all false, phony messages sent to you in the hope that you just might click on the message.

Read the address this phony email came from. The name between the < > is the sender – not the Royal Bank. If you don’t recognize the name of the sender – don’t open the email.

When you do that they have got a bit of a hook in you and they will slowly try and reel you in to the point where they have enough information to begin stealing your money.

The recipient of this message does not have an account with the Royal Bank

Dear (name erased to protect the recipient)

When these computer hackers get enough information from you – they can access your bank account and remove funds.

During our usual security enhancement protocol, we observed a payment was placed on pending status due to the recent upgrade in our database. In order to receive this payment you are required to verify your account from our secure verification link.

To Receive payment kindly click :

Log on to www.royalbank.com/cgi-bin/rbaccess/rbunxcgi

Remember,RBC Royal Bank is committed to your security and protection. To find out more, take a look at our

Information Security section under Privacy and Security on the Web site.
© Royal Bank of Canada Website, © 1995-2017 All rights reserved.

Banks in Canada do not use email to advise you of any problems with your account.

Regional police focus their attention on fraud during a month long initiative to further educate the public.

By Staff

March 1, 2017

BURLINGTON, ON

The Halton Regional Police Service (HRPS), is one of 80 law enforcement agencies and public and private sector organizations nationwide, hat will be involved in Fraud Prevention Month 2017. The hashtag is #FPM2017.

Each year, thousands of Canadians of all ages and backgrounds become victims of fraud. Fraud victims not only suffer direct financial loss but may endure the stressful process of reversing its damaging effects such as identity theft and negative credit/credit history.

The Gazette reports on some very sad situations where a senior has lost tens of thousands of dollars in some cases to people who have preyed on them

Halton Regional Police Staff Sergeant Chris Lawson of the Regional Fraud Unit points out that” “The reality is fraud is a moving target – no sooner does word spread about one scam then it’s on to another. While the specifics surrounding a scam may differ, they are all rooted in deceit. The key is to know what to look for.”

Now in its 13th year, the aim of Fraud Prevention Month is to educate Canadians about fraud and on how best to protect themselves from it through the 3Rs: Recognition, Rejection, and Reporting. The central theme for 2017 is ‘Don’t buy into fraud.’

To accomplish this, agencies including the HRPS will carry out a number of activities and initiatives specific to their jurisdiction. In Halton, these will include:

• Weekly ‘Fraud of the Week’ press releases detailing current/popular schemes

• Increased promotion of fraud-related arrests to members of the press and through social media (Twitter (@HaltonPolice and District accounts) and Facebook)

• Live Fraud Q&A on Twitter (@HaltonPolice) on Friday, March 17 from 11:00 a.m. – noon

• Fraud information sessions for seniors offered at retirement homes throughout Halton

More information about fraud, including a number of useful links and resources, is available at www.haltonpolice.ca/about/specializedunits/fraud.php or by following the hash tag #FPM2017 on Twitter through @HaltonPolice.

Two Males Arrested for Theft & Fraud Against Elderly Victim

By Staff

February 21, 2017

BURLINGTON, ON

The Halton Regional Police, 3 District Criminal Investigations Bureau – Vulnerable Persons Unit have identified and arrested two males who are alleged to have targeted an elderly female resident in the City of Burlington and subjecting her to prolonged financial abuse spanning between 2011 through to 2016.

The two accused have worked as high pressure door-to-door salesman, specializing in the installation of water and air filtration systems. The accused individuals rendered services to the elderly victim and subsequently gained access to her banking, credit card and other financial information. Presently, the financial loss to the victim exceeds $210 000.

Accused # 1: Derek CALVIN (38 years) of Hamilton is associated with a number of businesses: Pure Air Clean, Worldwide Industries, Eagle Water and Indoor Air Care Products. He has been charged with three counts of Theft Over $5000 and two counts of Theft Under $5000 contrary to the Criminal Code, in relation to the elderly female victim. He was released on a Promise to Appear in Milton Court on March 15th 2017.

Accused # 2: Edgordo CASTRO (41 yrs-old) of Brantford is associated to his company, Universal Water Technologies has been charged with Fraud Over $5000 and Unauthorized use of Credit Card Data, Contrary to the Criminal Code, in relation to the same elderly female victim in the City of Burlington. He was released on a Promise to Appear in Milton Court on March 8th 2017.

Citizens are reminded to be vigilant when engaging with any high pressure door-to-door salespeople. and to protect their financial data and identity information, especially when entering into contracts for products and services.

Citizens should ask questions, review and receive a written contract for products and services, control access to their financial information and only deal with contractors they have sought out to complete work in their home.

If citizens of Halton Region have concerns with these individuals and/or the identified businesses, you are encouraged to contact Detective Constable’s Nadine Clarke or Derek Gray – 3 District Criminal Investigations Bureau – Vulnerable Persons Unit – Elder Abuse and Frauds @905-825-4747, Ext 5345 or Ext 2344.

Tips can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers “See something, Hear something, Say something” at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.ca, or by texting “Tip201” with your message to 274637 (crimes).

For any other Fraud related matters please contact the Halton Police Fraud Intake Unit at: 1-905-465-8741 or on-line at:
https://www.haltonpolice.ca/about/specializedunits/fraud.php

For information about Contracts and Consumer Rights please contact, The Ontario Ministry of Government and Consumer Protection at 1-877-666-6545, or on-line at:
https://www.sse.gov.on.ca/mcs/en/pages/default.aspx

For more information about Consumer Protection and to search Ontario businesses complaints please contact, Consumer Protection Ontario at 1-800-889-9768, or on-line at:
https://www.ontario.ca/page/consumer-protection-ontario

For more information about Frauds, Scams and Counterfeit merchandise, please contact: The Canadian Anti-Fraud Center at 1-888-495-8501, or on-line at:
https://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/index-eng.htm

March is Fraud Prevention Month – Recognize It! Report It! Stop It!

March is National Fraud Prevention month and the Halton Regional Police, along with numerous government, law enforcement, consumer and volunteer groups and private sector firms will be sharing fraud prevention information to raise public awareness and educate the public to prevent them from becoming victims of this increasing crime.

Crooks are using a trusted brand to steal your money - pay attention.

By Staff

October 19th, 2106

BURLINGTON, ON

Many of us use PayPal as a way to pay for items we bought or sold on the internet. It is a useful service – even though they do take their time about getting your money to you when you ask for it.

Other than that – decent value – people trust the service – and the trust the brand – which is why the crooks like to use it.

This came across our desk recently – don’t believe a word of it. Someone wants to steal your identity.

(NOTICE) Your PayPal account has been limited

In order to get back into your account, you will need to confirm your identity with us.

We have made the process easy for you:

Download and open the attachment file that we have sent, and proceed into filling in the form.

Our security team will review the information that you have provided, and immediately remove the limitations in your PayPal account.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

There will be no apology when they siphon money out of your bank accounts.

If BCHS is a community school - then let's hear what the community wants their school to become - let's not limit yourselves to just struggling to keep it open.

By Pepper Parr

October 13, 2016

BURLINGTON, ON

It was interesting, exciting and exhilarating to watch some 60+ parents, several with children in tow and babies in carriages talk about how they will go about ensuring that those children have a high school to go to. The Parent Council at the high school did a superb job of both organizing and pulling together information. A quick look at the sheets of notes highlights how thorough they are going to be.

The trustee for the ward was doing what she is supposed to do – advocate for her constituents. The ward Councillor did her job as well. Her “I am here for you” was what the room needed to here.

If one can assume that all four trustees are on side for keeping Burlington Central High open – that gets 4 of the 11 votes. What about the two more that will be needed to ensure that the proposal to close BCHS is not approved by the trustees?

As an aside it looks like the parents with students going to Lester B. Pearson are comfortable with the decision to merge that school with M.M. Robinson.

The potential to become one of the best high schools in the province rests in the hands of the Parent Council.

The people taking part in the first BCHS community meeting were active, engaged and offered some superb comments.

This is their school – and this may be the opportunity for the community to not only oppose the closing of the school but put together ideas and proposals that would make the place one of the best in the province in terms of where students go for their education.

The structure has a sense of style and solidity to it. It is in the downtown core.

It does need a makeover which if done properly will make the school the one many students will want to attend.

It is already unique with its K to graduation set up. It has a very significant number of bursaries and scholarship available to students.

These are the people that can make their school into whatever they want it to be.

It has a parent population that in 1975 raised $100,000 to, we are told, refurbish the auditorium. Those were 1975 dollars.

This is a group of people who should not limit themselves to the just keeping the school open.

Dare to be Daniel’s and show your Board of Education that you have a vision for your community school.

Salt with Pepper is an opinion column publish from time to time

Identity thieves never stop - a more recent attempt at stealing your money from you.

By Staff

August 24, 2016

BURLINGTON, ON

“You are only able to use your existing security device until 26 August 2016” said a note from what the sender wanted us to believe was from the TD Bank.

The message was not from the TD Bank – it was from someone who wants the reader to think that.

The message goes on to say:

“Effective 27 August 2016, you will be required to log on to your Web Business Banking with the new synchronized master key. To avoid any disruption to your Web Business Banking service, we encourage you to upgrade immediately.”

“Your online security is our priority, for more detailed information please see the attached PDF document enclosed.”

“Your new Security Device upgrade is pin-protected and will provide you with an additional level of protection. All Web Business Banking users who do not upgrade there Security Devices in due time will be deactivated and unable to authorize transactions.

[TD Canada Trust]
[Commercial Banking Operations]

The spelling mistake we highlighted it in red for you is one of the give aways – banks don’t communicate with their clients this way.

Apple users get sent a confusing message - if they answered it may have cost them.

By Staff

March 21, 2016

BURLINGTON, ON

The Regional Police, the RCMP and the banks are doing their best to get the word out to people about Identity Theft and the bank scams that take place every day.

Most recently in this part of the world we read about a senior citizen who is out $8900 – someone tricked him into thinking he was helping the police – when he should have been calling the police.

During a month that police cautioned the public on several occasions about email scams someone somewhere sends out emails to people they have identified as Apple users.
Here is the first mail

The moment you click on the Continue and review line – you are in the process of telling crooks more about you than you want them to know. It does read like a reasonable request – in our case we aren’t Apple users so we recognized what the email was really about.

Within hours there was a follow up email – from the same address.

Here is he second email.

This email amuses there was a transaction – and for the millions that do transactions with Apple – this would seem like a reasonable request. How many people got caught with this one?

These people never give up – it costs them next to nothing to send out tens of millions of each email – all they have to do is snare one person and they pull – wellone local resisdent lost $8900.

If you are in doubt – call the police or talk to your bank. THEY are on your side.

Seniors gets taken for $8900 in a credit card scam. Bank notices unusual activity - gets involved.

By Staff

March 16, 2016

BURLINGTON, ON

A senior who was contacted by telephone by an individual claiming to be investigating illegal purchases on his credit card was coerced into sending over $8900 by wire transfer to China.

On March 5th the senior was contacted by an unknown individual on the telephone stating he was investigating fraudulent activity on his credit card in China and the RCMP was also assisting with the investigation.

The man allowed the caller remote access to his computer and online banking and then the caller requested the male wire transfer money to China to assist the RCMP in tracking it.

The caller then instructed the senior to make separate withdrawals from three bank branches in order to avoid detection. Once the man had made the withdrawals he was advised to attend four different Money Marts in the area and wire transfer the funds to China. The victim transferred over $8900 as instructed by the suspect.

The fraudulent activity was halted when the victim’s bank alerted him to the fraud based on the unusual withdrawals from his account.

The Halton Regional Police Service is reminding citizens to be vigilant against any individuals seeking access to your personal computer or pushing a fictitious scam requesting you to send money via wire transfer.

The bank was the vigilant one in this matter – kudos to them.

And what has the Air Park been up to recently? City solicitor has a lot of questions.

By Staff

March 16, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

One never knows what is going to appear in the mail box.
The following was passed along to us – interesting.

March 11, 2016

Fax: 416-314-8452

Application Assessment Officer
Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change Operations Division
Environmental Approvals Access &
Service Integration Branch Application Verification Unit
135 St. Clair Avenue West, Floor 1 Toronto, Ontario M4V 1P5
E-mail: tina.dufresne@ontario.ca Ms. Tina Dufresne, District Manager
Halton-Peel District Office, Central Region
4145 North Service Road, Suite 300 Burlington, Ontario L7L 6A3

Dear Sir/Madam:
Subject: EBR Registry Number: 012-6693
Ministry Reference Number: 1720-A59NX4 Proponent: 2120901 Ontario Limited
Instrument Type: Environmental Compliance Approval – EPA Part 11.1-sewage
Location: 5432 Bell School Line, Burlington, Ontario

I am writing on behalf of the of the Corporation of the City of Burlington, in response to an application for a new Environmental Compliance Approval for 2120901 Ontario Limited posted to the EBR on February 4, 2016. For the reasons that follow, the City of Burlington is requesting that the application be returned to the proponent as incomplete for the reasons as will be set out below. In the alternative, the City is requesting that the time for the submission of comments be extended for an additional 60 days beyond the current deadline of March 20, 2016 to permit adequate time for consideration of the issues by Burlington City Council, and affected residents.

Background

The City of Burlington and the Burlington Airpark Inc. have been engaged in litigation for several years arising from an illegal fill operation taking place at the Burlington Airpark. The sewage works that are the subject of the application before you drain water from the landfill at the airport that is the subject of the litigation between the City and Airpark. The Airpark is located between Appleby Line and Bell School line, north of Highway 407, all of which is located in the northern rural area of Burlington.

It was the dumping of landfill that resulted in neighbours calling the Gazette – we published the first stories on the problem which woke up people at city hall who began to look into the problem.

A fill operation on the Airpark property commenced in late 2007. The City of Burlington was never consulted about the fill operation or about any proposed expansion plans that the Airpark might have with respect to its operations. On or about March 2013, the City began receiving a significant number of complaints from new landowners in the vicinity of the Airpark. The nature of the complaints ranged from grading activities, drainage, noise, dust, traffic safety and about the possible effects of contaminants in the fill on drinking water. After having investigated these complaints, staff concluded that the Airpark was using its lands as a fill site in order to generate revenue and was not depositing fill to implement a planned and/or imminent expansion of its airport facilities.

As a result of its investigations, on May 3, 2013 the City issued an Order to Comply pursuant to its site alteration by-law by obtaining a permit for the ongoing fill operation. After the Airpark failed to comply, the City issued a Violation Notice under its by-law. Since that time, the City has been engaged in protracted litigation with the Airpark to bring the Airpark into compliance with the City’s by laws to address the off-site impacts caused by its fill operation.

Litigation Round 1

The Airpark brought a court application in July 2013 to prohibit the City from enforcing its Topsoil Preservation and Site Alteration By-law against the Airpark and the Airport. The City responded with a counter application seeking a declaration that the City’s Topsoil Preservation and Site Alteration By-law 6-2003 was valid and binding upon the Airpark and to its fill activities.

In November 2013, the court dismissed Airpark’s application against the City and declared that the City’s Topsoil and Site Alteration By-law was valid and binding upon it. The Airpark subsequently appealed the decision to the Ontario Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal on June 13, 2014.

Following the decision of the Court of Appeal, the City continued to press the Airpark to comply with the Order to Comply under the City’s Site Alteration By-law. The City adopted a new Site Alteration By-law #64-2014 which contained materially the same provisions found in the previous by-law. The City maintained that the Order remained outstanding and it continued to be entitled to enforce it. The Airpark subsequently did file an application, however maintained that it was in relation only to a small area at the north-west corner of the Airport. This position

ignores all of the fill unlawfully deposited at the Airpark between January 1, 2008 and August 2, 2013.

litigation Round 2

The City commenced an application to the court in April, 2015 seeking an order to remove all fill deposited on site between 2008 and 2013. In the alternative, the City seeks to have the court order the Airpark to submit a complete application for a site alteration permit pursuant to the new City’s site alteration by-law. The application was heard by the court on November 10, 2015 and at the time of preparing this letter, the court has not released its decision.

Nature of Burlington’s Interest

The City of Burlington has a clear and compelling interest in the application for Environmental Compliance Approval that has been submitted to the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change and posted on the EBR. As demonstrated above, the City has been engaged in a protracted dispute with the Airpark to regulate the fill that was brought onto the site illegally in order to address the environmental impacts resulting from those actions. In particular, the City is concerned with the grading of the property, and the impacts on the drainage of the lands, all of which are related to the proposed sewage works identified in the current application for compliance.

Councillor Blair Lancaster walking through the property of a farm adjacent to the air port found the land spongy and soaked with water – now we know where that water is coming from.

Prior to 2008, which was the start of the fill operations, the Airpark had a storm sewer drainage system that was located generally in the vicinity of the North South runway and the airpark buildings. These storm sewers discharged into the existing pond at the SE corner of the property and into the adjacent farm fields.

With the start of the fill operations, additional storm sewers were installed in the areas of fill. These storm sewers discharge into a regulated watercourse and also at several locations along the west property line. This has resulted in changes to the stormwater discharge regime onto adjacent properties. The change has been from the previous “sheet flow discharge” to “concentrated flow discharge”. As a result, adjacent properties have been adversely impacted, as identified above in the form of complaints received by the City.

The City agrees that the MOECC Environmental Compliance Approvals were required for these storm sewer systems. In addition, Conservation Authority permits should have been applied for. It is the City’s position that detailed storm sewer and stormwater design calculations should be provided for these systems. The application does not include adequate information in this regard.

Irregularities with the Present Application

City staff has had the opportunity to attend at the Halton-Peel District Office to view the materials filed by the proponent. The City submits that the application as filed contains a number of irregularities that merit the rejection of the present application on the basis of incompleteness.

Name of Proponent

The ownership of the Air Park and the taxes they actually pay are now being questioned.

The name of the proponent making application for environmental compliance approval is 212091 Ontario Limited. The Certificate of Incorporation and the Articles of Incorporation attached to the application for that numbered company date back to 2006. Our recent corporate search of this company discloses that the numbered company was in fact amalgamated with the Burlington Airpark Inc. on January 1, 2007, forming a new company, Burlington Airpark Inc. being Ontario Corp. Number 1721779. Burlington takes the position that the application has been made by a defunct corporation which cannot have legal responsibility for the proposed works to which the application relates. The documents submitted in support of the applicant’s name are neither current, nor do they provide proof of the name of a genuine applicant. Furthermore, the documents submitted do not include copies of the subsequent articles of amalgamation.

Burlington submits that the proponent’s name as posted on the EBR is misleading, and a reasonable person having an interest in postings on the EBR respecting the Burlington Airpark Inc. would not have adequate notice of the application as posted in its current form.

Location(s) Related to this Instrument

The posting to the Environmental Registry identify the relevant address as 5432 Bell School Line, Burlington. Our information is that the actual address for the site is 5342 Bell School Line, in the City of Burlington. Again, any reasonable person having an interest in activities related to the Airpark would not have adequate notice that an application had been made for those lands. Also, 5342 Bell School Line is only one of three land parcels forming the Airpark lands.

Statement of the Municipality (s. 5.1)

The City notes that section 1.5 of the Application – Statement of the Municipality has been left blank. The Municipality has to indicate that it has no objection to the construction of the works in the municipality. I can assure you, that the City of Burlington, where the works are located has not been contacted and has not been consulted. Furthermore, the box has not been checked as “NA”.

Our understanding is that a municipal declaration is required from the municipality in which the sewage works are or will be located. The Ministry’s own “Guide to Applying for an Environmental Compliance Approval”, identifies that this declaration, “is required to establish the municipality’s general concurrence with the proposal, to ensure that the proposed works would not contravene any municipal by-laws or other requirements.” Also, the common law requires that the City be consulted in these circumstances.

Based on the background provided in this correspondence, the City of Burlington has very serious concerns about the sewage works identified in the application, and the municipality ought to have been consulted prior to the application having been made. The City takes the position that the installation of sewage works was done concurrent with the illegal infill operation that was occurring at the site, in contravention of the City’s site alteration by-laws.

Burlington’s Request

Barbara Sheldon look at 32 feet of landfill less than 50 feet from her kitchen window. All dumped without any permits because an airport is federally regulated. The city is not done with this issue.

Barbara Sheldon look at 32 feet of landfill less than 50 feet from her kitchen window. All dumped without any permits because an airport maintained they were federally regulated and did not have to comply with city bylaws.

The City of Burlington is requesting that the application be returned to the proponent as incomplete for the reasons as presented. The application contains incomplete and inaccurate information, and has the effect of misleading any person with an interest in tracking environmental activity on the EBR. The proponent ought to correct the application, and ensure that discussions are held with the relevant municipal authorities, including the City of Burlington and Conservation Halton before an application for environmental compliance is re submitted.

In the alternative, the City is requesting that the time for the submission of comments be extended for an additional 60 days beyond the current deadline of March 20, 2016 to permit adequate time for consideration of the issues by Burlington City Council, and affected residents.

Please note that these submissions are preliminary and deal only with the adequacy of the application and process followed to date. Should the application continue to be processed for approval, the City will submit its technical comments on the application for environmental approval.

If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours truly,

Nancy L. Shea Nicol
City Solicitor & Director of Legal Services cc. Mr. Ian Blue, Gardiner

This is the kind of document that would get circulated to council members and discussed in a closed session of council. Our thanks to the citizen who had the courage to pass it along to the Gazette.

This is not the government trying to help you - this is someone wanting to steal your money.

By Staff

January 4th, 2016

BURLINGTON, ON

It does sort of look official – but it isn’t.

If you see this in your electronic mail box – just delete it.

The Canada Revenue Agency does not use email to communicate with people about their tax matters.

The rule when you see something in your email inbox is simple – if it looks suspicious – it probably is. If in doubt – don’t.

Identity theft is all over the place on the internet- Stay vigilant.

By Staff

October 27th, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

They are out in force this week – the fraud artists are just flooding the internet with what at first glance looks like a message from your banker – always look at the email address the message came from – and even then – give the bank a call – they always want to hear from you about any effort to scam your money from you.

The scam artists want to learn as much as they can about you – so they can become you and drain every dollar you have out of your account. Pay attention to the email you get.

One of our people got two requests to check on their account – first one went like this:

It came from: CIBC Online <no-reply@cibonl.com>- that is not a CIBC email address

Because we have received multiple failed authentication attempts, your online access has been temporarily locked.
To restore your access, click: Sign On to CIBC Online and proceed with the verification process.

The second one came from:

Customer Contact Centre! <supervisor@hdt.es>
And used the first name of the person it was sent to: Good afternoon (name)

Your Bank of Montreal account has just been used to connect Internet Explorer on Windows 10/26/2015 12:27:39 Uganda

Could not this browser if you have used this device or with your account.
This can happen when you first connect to another computer, phone or browser when you use the browser incognito or private browsing or deleting cookies or when accessing your account else.

If this was you, please sign in from your regularly used device.

If you haven’t recently signed in from an unrecognized device and believe someone may have accessed your account, please visit this link to change your password and update your account recovery information.

Thanks for taking these additional steps to keep your account safe.

The grammatical errors were a dead giveaway with this one.

The identity thieves are very good at what they do.

They are out there – looking for someone who may not pay close attention. It is your money –make sure someone doesn’t steal it from you.

Stay vigilant.

If you believe this one – you will probably believe almost anything.

By Pepper Parr

September 9, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

This popped up in my email box – can you imagine a bank asking you what you thought of a change they were making .

That never happens – which was the first clue that the email was the first step in an attempt to get into my identity and rummage around my bank account to see if there was something they could steal.

I’ve not had an account with the CIBC for at least ten years – so there is nothing to learn about me there.

Somewhere along the way someone who makes their living taking what isn’t theirs from people
If you see this one – click on delete, quickly.

The cheek!

Changes to the Electronic Access Agreement

We’ve changed the Electronic Access Agreement.
We wanted to check it’s OK with you.
The following is a summary of the changes made to the Agreement effective as of August 1, 2015
Part I “Terms and Conditions for CIBC eDeposit” is new and applies to your use of the new CIBC eDeposit feature within CIBC Mobile Banking.
Part K was amended to add new definitions to explain the meaning of the following terms: “CIBC eDeposit” and “Images”.
Section 56 “Exclusive Jurisdiction” was removed.
Section 70 “Governing Law” was amended to clarify its meaning and add new information.

What do I have to do?

If You agree with the changes we’ve made, please click on the link below:
https://www.cibc.com/ca/agreement-2015-confirm.aspx

You must use your Bank Card and Password to access Online Banking. You may also be required to answer your Personal Verification Questions when accessing Online Banking.

If you do not agree to a change in this Agreement, you must immediately stop using Online Banking

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