 By Pepper Parr
October 9th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
November the 5th is going to be a busy day for those who have concerns about the developments taking place in their community.
 Eight towers in a single development that will be constructed in phases The Oval Court development has scheduled a Statutory meeting for 9:30 on the 5th and there is a Statutory meeting for the 2030 Caroline development scheduled for the same day.
 The 2030 Caroline development is the last of three parts. The building on the north end was to be a six to eight story tower that is now a 28 story tower. Ward 4 Councillor Lisa Kearns is pushing to have the 2030 Caroline meeting held in the evening – nothing final on that push
The Oval Court development is huge – eight towers to be developed in seven phases – it will become a construction site for as much as a decade.
The third Statutory meeting on November 5th is related to the Stonehedge development in ward 5.
Statutory Public Meeting and Recommendation Report
November 5, 2024; 9:30a.m.
Virtual Meeting held in hybrid model
Application for Draft Plan of Subdivision to create 12 lots/blocks, 10 lots to accommodate single detached dwellings, a block to accommodate 8 street townhomes and a block to create a private ownership roadway.
 The Branthaven Oval Court development 
 By Staff
October 9th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
The Royal LePage Shelter Foundation Night Light Walk – Burlington 2024 is back for another year. Join Royal LePage as they walk, talk, fundraise and share in a magical night of light under the stars in support of urgently needed resources for women and children experiencing domestic violence.
All proceeds are directed to Halton Women’s Place Transitional Housing Units, so sign up today knowing you will be making a real difference. With your support, we can help light the way forward for so many women and children who are ready to take their first brave steps away from violence.
 Date: October 24, 2024
Suggested Arrival Time: 6:15 p.m.
Walk Starts: 7:00 p.m. (rain or shine)
Location: Burlington Civic Square
Together, with friends, family and neighbours, we will walk 3k through the streets of our community. It all starts at 6:15 p.m. at Burlington Civic Square, where we will gather to hear inspiring stories before we head out to walk a lantern-lit route lighting the way for women and children experiencing domestic violence in our community. The night’s activities will also feature coffee and espresso, a light snack after the walk, Face Painting and a Clown/Balloon artist. All participants will receive a Royal LePage Shelter Foundation Night Light Walk Knit Hat and an LED bracelet.
 By Staff
October 9th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
A simple one name word – Downie tells what the event is about
 Gord Downie on stage An event at the Performing Arts Centre on Thursday, October 17, 2024 – 8:00 PM to celebrate the work that Gord Downie in his final days, shining a light on reconciliation with Canada’s First Nations, Métis and Inuit people.
Performing their own versions of your favourite Gord Downie and Tragically Hip songs as well as their own original music, these artists will join in our collective reconciliation journey to promote awareness, education, and thoughtful action.
THE POETS: The Poets are a Tragically Hip tribute band that is based in Moose Factory / Moosonee in northern Ontario.
The Poets are joined by Walking Through the Fire, a group that brings the magic of collaboration to the stage, with award-winning First Nations, Métis, and Inuit artists from across Turtle Island joined by Billboard charting/6x CFMA winners Sultans of String!
The event is a concert in support of the Downie-Wenjack Fun
Buy Tickets HERE
 By Staff
October 9th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
 City of Burlington administrative services will be closed for Thanksgiving, on Monday, Oct. 14. For a list of which City services and facilities are available on the long weekend, please see the summary below or visit burlington.ca.
| City Service |
Holiday Closure Information |
| Animal Services |
The Animal Shelter at 2424 Industrial St. will be closed to appointments on Monday, Oct. 14. To report an animal control related emergency on a holiday, please call 905-335-7777. |
| Burlington Transit |
Burlington Transit will operate on a Sunday schedule on Monday, Oct. 14. The Downtown Transit Terminal, at 430 John St., and Specialized Dispatch will be closed.
Online services
|
| City Hall |
Service Burlington and the Building, Renovating and Licensing counter on the main floor of City Hall at 426 Brant St., will be closed to all appointments and walk-in service on Monday, Oct. 14.
Many service payments are available online at burlington.ca/onlineservices
For online development services:
MyFiles can be used by residents who have applied for Pre-Building Approval. Check the status of Pre Building Approval applications at burlington.ca/MyFiles. |
| Halton Court Services – Provincial Offences Office |
Court administration counter services at 4085 Palladium Way will be closed on Monday, Oct. 14.
Except for the Thanksgiving closure, telephone payments are available at 905-637-1274, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday. All in-person services are available from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday. Many services are also available by email at burlingtoncourt@burlington.ca or online at Halton Court Services. Payment of Provincial Offences fines is available 24/7 at www.paytickets.ca. |
| Parking |
On Sunday, Oct. 13 and Monday, Oct. 14: Free parking is available downtown, on the street, in municipal lots and in the parking garage (414 Locust St.).
On Saturday, Oct. 12: Pay parking downtown is required in high-demand parking lots (Lots 1, 4 and 5) and all on-street metered parking spaces. A three-hour maximum is in effect for all on-street spaces. Free parking is available in the remaining municipal lots and the parking garage (414 Locust St.).
NOTE:
- The Waterfront parking lots (east and west at 1286 Lakeshore Rd.) do not provide free parking on holidays
- Parking exemptions are required to park overnight on city streets and for longer than five hours. Visit burlington.ca/parkingexemptions
- Please make an online reservation using Park Pass to visit Lowville Park on weekends. Reservations are free and available in three-hour time slots.
|
| Recreation Programs and Facilities |
Drop-In Recreation Programs
Centennial Pool (5151 New St.) and Tansley Woods Pool (1996 Itabashi Way) are open on Thanksgiving Monday, Oct 14. for recreational and lap swimming.
Drop-in swimming, skating and other recreation program times vary for the long weekend. For schedules, visit burlington.ca/dropinandplay.
Outdoor Activities
Burlington has a variety of outdoor activities to enjoy with your family during the long weekend including:
- trails and multi-use paths
- parks and playgrounds.
Find out more at burlington.ca/outdoorplay.
Golf
Tyandaga Golf Course is open for the fall golfing season. Tee times can be booked online at tyandagagolf.com or by calling 905-336-0005, ext. 2.
Play Lending Library
Our Lending Library has a variety of outdoor and indoor play equipment available to borrow at no charge. Equipment pickup is on Thursdays, and return drop off is on Tuesdays at Haber Community Centre (3040 Tim Dobbie Dr.). Check out the variety of indoor and outdoor play equipment that we offer at burlington.ca/playlending.
Customer Service
Recreation, Community and Culture customer service is available to assist you in person at recreation facility counters during program times.
And with the exception of Monday, Oct. 14, customer service is also available:
- By email at liveandplay@burlington.ca
- By phone at 905-335-7738, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday, and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (closed Monday, Oct. 14).
|
| Roads, Parks and Forestry |
The administrative office will be closed on Monday, Oct. 14. Essential services will be provided as required. |
Burlington is a city where people, nature and business thrive. Sign up to learn more about Burlington at burlington.ca/subscribe and follow @CityBurlington on social media.
 By Pepper Parr
October 9th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
This happened:
 A December 2017 fire destroyed much of the Tender Foods plant and Paletta International offices on Paletta Court. Five years later what was Paletta went through re-organization and resulted in the Alinea Land Corporation that decided to tear down everything on the 18.5 acre site.
 The structure will be torn down – everything levelled to the ground. and this
 Every square foot will be demolished. and this
 Demolition has already started. The 18.5 acre site is going to be redeveloped as light industrial with nothing higher than four storeys – most of which are expected to come in at two storey. The expectation is for 300,000 square feet of space in three buildings.
There will be no residential housing on the site.
Alinea and Paletta International have site plan approval (there are some conditions) from the city. They want to have building permits in hand so they can construct when they have tenants.
The property will be developed in phases. There may be a situation when some of the fire damaged properties will be under demolition while other sites are under construction. Alinea will have a new corporate headquarters on the site.
What gets built when will depend on market conditions. “We don’t want to put up a building and have it standing empty” said David Pitblado who is responsible for the development of many of the Alinea properties.
Access to the site will be from Paletta Court and Zelko Drive.
By Pepper Parr
October 9th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
 Michael Patrick Moffatt is a Canadian economist and professor of Business, Economics, and Public Policy. He served as director of policy and research at Canada 2020, a progressive Canadian think-tank. He is also an assistant professor at Ivey Business School. How much have the developers paid in the way of development Charges and how much of that money have the municipalities spent?
Housing expert MIKE MOFFATT ran the numbers — “In 2022, the last year we have data for, Ontario municipalities collected $4 billion in development charges, but spent less than $3 billion of those funds.
In total, Ontario municipalities collectively have over $10 billion in unspent DCs.” That cash goes toward housing-enabling infrastructure like sewage and road systems.
By Pepper Parr
October 9th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
A lot of questions.
Several paragraphs below take you through the current Board level leadership of the Performing Arts Centre that lost its Executive Director quite suddenly on xxxx
Rumours of unacceptable financial behaviour, making decisions well outside the level of responsibility that an Executive Director is given was kept away from the public.
The Executive Director was gone and the search was on for a new one. That was in June – and not a word from the Board since.
The City found that it had to provide the 2024 Sound of Music (SoM) event a significant sum to keep the organization afloat until they had some cash coming in from the event which at the time of the financial rescue was days away.
All this was during that period of time when Performing Arts was “presenting” the Sound of Music – it was never quite clear what “presenting” meant.
A lot of people thought that tucking Sound of Music under the wing of Performing Arts was a great idea – that isn’t our view.
The structures of these two organizations is radically different – SoM has a large dedicated roster of volunteers who work very well together – groups like that don’t work all that well within a structured organization like city hall, which in Burlington is still a collection of silos. It’s getting better but they aren’t yet the well-oiled machine that has every moving part perfectly synced with every other part.
June 10, 2024
 Since 2011, the Burlington Performing Arts Centre (BPAC) has been committed to bringing the best of the arts to its patrons. BPAC is thrilled to welcome seven new faces to its Board of Directors, who will join the hard-working directors currently on the Board and continue to drive and enhance the centre’s commitment to the community. The following new Directors were announced at the AGM on May 30, 2024:
Stephen Bell – Owner of Burlington’s Pepperwood Bistro with over 40 years of experience in the hospitality industry, in both restaurants and hotels, Stephen has been a proud sponsor of BPAC for many years. Pepperwood Bistro’s charity efforts have raised thousands of dollars for Cystic Fibrosis of Canada as well as other local charities.
Dr. Anna Danielova – Associate Dean, Faculty Affairs and Accreditation at the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University, Anna has spent two decades as a teaching professor and researcher in financial management, corporate finance, investments and valuation at McMaster as well as prominent universities in the US and Armenia.
Carrie Gervais – VP of Finance at MetriCan Group of Companies, with a solid reputation for providing strategic financial solutions to assist business growth. A trusted advisor and leader, Carrie brings a focus on building relationships and effectively collaborating with others.
Max Honiball – Associate Lawyer at Frederikse Law, practicing across all of the Firm’s practice areas. Max loves travel and is an avid musician; two hobbies which are serendipitously supported by his role as a British Army Reserve Musician.
Kari Pimentel – VP of Human Resources at TD Bank. A 25-year HR veteran, Kari is known as a strategic and pragmatic leader, adept at balancing business realities and employee experience while cultivating strong and collaborative relationships.
James Sweetlove – Formerly a lawyer with Ross & McBride, Jim retired in 2015 after over 40 years practicing in the areas of estate administration, planning and litigation. Jim has called Burlington home for over 50 years and has embraced community involvement since retiring, chairing, vice-chairing and sitting on a number of Boards.
Jim Thompson – A retired executive business leader, Jim spent 40 years working for the world’s #1 retailer, Walmart. Jim has lived in Burlington for 30 years and his not-for-profit activities keep him very busy – he currently spends his time as a Board Member, Consultant, Mentor and Speaker.
In addition to the new Directors, BPAC has named its new Youth Ambassador to the Board. Mark Mazuco, a 13-year-old student, will bring a youthful perspective and a vibrant energy to BPAC, and will serve as Burlington’s Youth Voice for the Arts. Mark’s leadership potential has been recognized through his participation in the Canadian Cadets program, as well as his selection to represent Burlington at the 2024 Ontario Model Parliament. These experiences honed his teamwork, communication, and diplomacy – all important skills he will bring to the Youth Ambassador role.
These new appointments join current Board members Ken Smithard (Board Chair), Peter Van Dyk, Deirdre Flynn, Emilie Cote, Kelly Gleeson and Angelo Bentivegna. Cote and Bentivegna represent the City and Council.
 Not quite a full house – but more than respectable audience size BPAC’s Board of Directors’ Statement of Purpose is to lead a progressive performing arts centre that is a gathering place, offering a balance of community and professional programming guided by artistic vision and excellence.
The objective of the Board is to build, foster and celebrate cultural vitality and diversity in the City of Burlington so that the performing arts are seen as an important component of everyday life.
Related news stories:
Performing Arts Director resigns
SoM to take place despite the confusion at BPAC
By Pepper Parr
October 8th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Another memorable Burlington Public Engagement moment.
After going through a long presentation on the Council Composition and Ward boundary task that the city has entered into – the first of what will end up being many public meetings took place last night.
There were three people that were “public” and four staff people plus the staff from Watson and Associates why are doing the study for the city.
 The person on the right is part of the consultant team; the others were interested enough to show up. One of the three that were attending asked why there was just the one sign outside the building – there are three entrances to the Tansley Woods Community Centre.
Signs outside and inside each door helps.
The study is something the city has to do. More importantly, if there is going to be a council that is truly representative, the city needs to know where the 29,000 new homes are going to be located by 2031 and how big the population of each ward, as they exit now, are likely to be.
The presentation made at City Council on Monday was detailed. The Gazette had yet to publish a report on the event.
So when we learned that a total of three people showed up for the event we were not surprised.
Why the city scheduled the first public meeting the day after the presentation to Council suggests that the Communications people don’t know very much about how to engage a public – but that is a different problem.
The bigger problem is that people in Burlington just don’t participate in civic matters – less than 30% of the eligible voters in the 2022 election bothered to vote.
One of the consulting staff made the point that in 2016 when he was involved in this type of public meeting the room was packed. “Things have changed since the pandemic” – what the change is is something that has yet to be figured out.
There are two more meetings scheduled.
 By Pepper Parr
October 8th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Second of a week long series on the changes taking place in print media and the challenge keeping the public informed.
In the period leading up to 2000 media found itself facing realty difficult times.
When Y2k (remember that event) was upon us no one really knew what was going to happen when we moved into the new millennium.
 Newspapers were selling their printing presses and contracting the work out. Media covered the event like a wet blanket – there were those that said it wasn’t really a problem while others suggested the machines that drive production would come to an immediate halt.
Media did a lot of reporting – but they didn’t pause to ask: what does this mean to us as an industry?
I don’t recall reading about any industry wide workshops; I don’t recall seeing anything in the way of op-ed pieces on what the industry needed to do in the way of changes.
Media covered disruption – without realizing that they were in line for some major disruption to their industry and they weren’t prepared.
The industry no longer had the aura of Watergate or the Pentagon Papers that made reporters heros – at that time thousands flooded into the industry wanting to be reporters. Reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were the subject of close to fawning news stories, television specials and movies.
By the late 1980s journalism schools were being closed. The number of students that graduated got smaller and smaller.
The age of the men and woman in the news rooms was made up of people in their late 40’s and 50’s – there was no new blood coming into the industry. And there were few MBAs on staff of the large newspapers.
Those that were public corporations had financial analysts looking at profits which were decent at the time – what those analysts didn’t see was that the boat was moving quickly toward a Niagara size waterfall.
When the disruption of the revenue sources began media didn’t have a Plan B – they watched is losses began to climb and subscriptions slowly slipped away.
 The data relates to American newspaper – the number will not be much different for Canada Part 1 of a week long series.
 By Pepper Parr
October 8th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Painful things happen.
 At about 7:30 this morning access to the Gazette seemed limited.
At -7:45 you could not get to the paper. A thing called an SSL Certificate had expired.
Getting to the people who provide the certificate was not easy – we all know about Customer Support don’t we.
The problem has been resolved – on the positive side – I had 42 calls from readers along with 21 emails telling us there was a problem.
Learning this morning that a Canadian (UofT) had been awarded the Nobel prize as the founder of AI suggest that we are entering a different age.
Heaven help us.
Thanks for the support.
 By Staff
October 8th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
The Walkn’n Roll fund raising drive reached $39,000 of the $40,000 target.
Would a handful of the people out there help them reach the total – today would be nice.
 Community Living promotes the inclusion for all in the community. Walk’n Roll is the initiative that funds some of the work done at Community Living – an organization that helps people who need help – people with a developmental disability in Burlington.
With just $1,000 more to reach the $40,000 goal, they are asking for your help. If you haven’t had the chance to donate yet or if you’d like to make a one-time contribution, now’s the perfect time.
The donation portal closes on October 10, 2024.
Donate here
 By Pepper Parr
October 7th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
The Gazette seldom actually attends meetings of City Council. We see the room as somewhat odious.
More than that – we make heavy use of photographs which we couldn’t take if we were in the Council Chamber – further we use a transcription service that allows us to capture what people say – we couldn’t do that if we were actually at City Hall.
This morning there were two people we wanted pictures of: Curt Benson, a City Commissioner and Jack Ammendolia Managing Partner from Watson who was reporting to Council on the ward boundaries and size of council matter.
We also like to keep our photograph data base of Councillors -up to date.
 Curt Benson – Commissioner of Development and Growth Management We were able to get several good screen shots of Curt Benson – this man is going to have a very significant impact on how development rolls out from a city perspective. Benson came from the Halton Region – knows the file particularly well. The city was lucky to get him
 Jack Ammendolia, Managing Partner, Watson & Associates Economists Ltd. Same went for Jack Ammendolia, Managing Partner, Watson & Associates Economists Ltd. We were also able to get pictures of Samantha Yew, City Clerk who does solid behind the scenes work.
 The image on the Thomson T-shirt. We can’t say the same about Jim Thompson. He delegated in person at Committee of the Whole, and as usual he was right on the mark with his comment. Thomson has been consistently correct when he points out the errors council makes on procedural matters.
His delegation appears below. What doesn’t appear are any pictures of Jim Thomson sporting a new T-shirt.
It takes less than a second for me to push the Print Screen key – I didn’t have that much time. The image was gone in a flash and never appeared again until the very end – and again it disappeared in a second.
The Audio-Visual team controls what appears on the screen for people who are watching a web cast – they are like the camera directors.
 Jim Thomson delegating at Council Traditionally they keep the camera on the person speaking – they made an exception for Jim Thomson this morning – and that was not an accident. Someone told them not to show Jim Thomson wearing his expressive T-shirt.
Mayor Meed Ward read out her usual remarks related to how people behaved when they are in Council Chambers. I’ve never seen any other Council in the Region issue statements on behaviour the way the Burlington Mayor does.
“We ask everyone to be respectful of others when they are speaking, listen as you would want to be listened to, and a reminder to our committee members to adhere to the procedure by law and limit your questions to two at a time. Further, our members may ask questions only for the purpose of obtaining facts that are relevant to the matter under discussion and necessary for a clear understanding of the matter. All questions are stated succinctly and should not be used as a means to make statements, assertions or engage in debate.
Thomson was in Council for the first time in many many months.
When Thomson had finished his delegation – no one asked a single camera – they couldn’t get him off stage fast enough.
This is really childish, immature behaviour.
Replace them all at the next election. Odious lot.
Mayor Meed Ward introduced Thompson, “who is joining us in person to speak to the approval of the 2025 meeting calendar.
“You have a presentation; We’ll ask our audio visual specialists to bring that up, and you can start whenever you are ready.”
Thomson begins:
“Staff Direction (SD) 1723 directed staff to include a public engagement component into the by law review.”
 Jim Thomson: I don’t find the staff position surprising, Staff put up a survey on the Get Involved Burlington website, but failed to incorporate any feedback from that survey into the proposed bylaw.
“The survey results were not included as part of the report on the bylaw review. Staff claimed that the questions were outside the scope of the bylaw review. I have a hard time understanding how the timing of meetings is outside the scope of the bylaw review. The public need to know the time of meetings and should have input.
“Staff eventually released the data from the survey, but didn’t include it in the urgent business section with the rest of the bylaw information. It was a separate memo under receiving file, and at least one councillor hadn’t read it.
“The survey data showed that 39% of respondents find a meeting schedule inconvenient or very inconvenient, while only 17% actually find the time to be convenient or very convenient.
“The survey also contained many comments that indicate the daytime meeting is challenging for people due to work commitments. It Should be noted that the change in start times to 9:30 happened in December 2022 without proper public notification of a change to the bylaw and with no public engagement.
“The staff direction was a belated attempt to get public input into the bylaw review. Staff were supposed to report in Q3 2023 but they failed to do so, and it wasn’t until September 2024 that they came back with the report that failed to include the public engagement they had been directed to provide.
 Jim Thomson – self portrait – in T shirt someone made sure the public never got to see. “It’s really galling that in this report, the staff have a section titled options considered. There aren’t any. No options were actually presented, let alone considered. There is just a bald statement the staff are not recommending changes.
“Staff apparently believe that if someone wishes to delegate, they have in person, online or telephone available, that, of course, assumes the person can get time off work to use any of those options.
“I don’t find the staff position surprising, as Mary Ann has stated at Council, that we give people their evenings back to spend their time with their families and go to ball games and have their personal time.
“The question I have for Mary Ann is, who asked for the readings back? Was it the public or was it staff rearranging things to their own benefit? Thank you for your time. Are there any questions?”
Mayor Meed Ward: Thank you for your delegation. I don’t see any questions on the board.
Later in the Council meeting the Mayor spoke at length on the data that Thomson mention – her comments seemed like an attempt to justify the decision to do away with evening meetings.
We will report on that in a separate article.
 By Pepper Parr
October 7th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Updated at 6:10 pm
Declarations of an interest on an item on the agenda are seldom declared by Council members. We don’t see these very often.
The morning Councillor Sharman declared a conflict of interest on Item 9.5 which is the confidential human resource department report regarding a personal matter.
Sharman then said: “ because it relates to myself.”
Oh, Oh – what have you done Councillor?
You are not supposed to know what your fellow Councillors will hear nor will you know what they say. They will probably make a decision as to what they want to do about this “confidential human resource department report”
Time in the wood shed for Sharman?
 Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman seen at City Council meetings serving the public.. I feel you pain brother!  
Would this behavioural matter have anything at all to do with the fact that Councillor Stolte was absent from today Committee of the Whole meeting?
Council came out of a closed session and reported that on the Human Resources related to Councillor Paul Sharman – the decision was to file whatever there was in the way of a report.
This is too clubby a Council to find themselves making decisions about the behaviour of one of their colleagues. It should have gone to an independent group.
By Pepper Parr
October 7th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
First of a week long series on the changes taking place in print media and the challenge keeping the public informed.
This is National newspaper week; an occasion to look at the challenges the news business faces.
That daily newspaper that was read in most households in the evening or the paper that was delivered in the morning before Dad left for work are things of the past.
 Once the largest newspaper in western GTA – the Spectator struggles to stay alive. We no longer have daily newspapers, or weekly newspaper that tell us what is going on in our communities, provinces, the rest of the country or the world.
There are some daily newspaper being published. The Hamilton Spectator comes out six days a week but it is not the powerful local daily it once was.
Except for a small number of daily newspapers that are national in scope – the New York Times, the Washington Post or the Los Angeles Times – include some of the financial press like the Wall Street Journal or the Financial Times and that is what we have. There are exceptions but they are few and far between.
Those publications have reasonably robust advertising bases that fund the operation; everyone else was taken out by services based on the internet.
Craig’s List and Kajiji killed Classified Advertising; a service that drew in millions in revenue with little in the way of editorial expense other than taking down the information and setting it all up under the dozens of classifications. It was a brilliant idea that has been with us for centuries in different forms.
 Classified advertising was phenomenally successful Newspaper revenue from classifieds advertisements decreased continually as internet classifieds grew. Classified advertising at some of the larger newspaper chains dropped by 14% to 20% in 2007, while traffic to classified sites grew by 23%.
This was the beginning of the end for print newspapers. It took an additional decade and a half for the business side of newspapers to realize that they were in serious trouble – by that time it was too late.
In the past year the Toronto Star pulled the plug on their Metroland unit that published close to 50 weekly newspapers in the province.
 Soon after Kajiji was created others created versions of online advertising that included photographs – it was classified with colour and all on line. Without a financial base print was dead – going on line was the answer but it took time for the larger media companies to figure that out.
Newspaper could tell a story – they had sections that reported on business – the Globe and Mail Report on Business being the most successful. Ironic that while very good at reporting news they were not able to see how what they were reporting was going to impact them. They weren’t able to see the fundamental change that was taking place.
An interesting example of the newspaper that saw the change coming and found a way to change their business model.
The Toronto Star and LaPresse, the largest French newspaper in Quebec, formed a joint venture with the Toronto Star to create a digital version of the newspaper and publish as online newspapers.
 Going totally digital worked for Montreal’s French language newspaper. It worked for LaPresse – the Star was never able to convince their readers that online was going to be the way you got your news.
In 2016, a few years after the launch of La Presse+, print was restricted to Saturdays and shortly thereafter, on 31 December 2017, the last newspaper was printed.
Publisher Guy Crevier says the paper will become the world’s first major daily to go completely digital on weekdays as it responds to a permanent shift in advertising spending.
Guy Crevier, publisher of LaPresse, pointed out that the North American newspaper sector had lost 63 per cent of its revenues — or $29 billion — over the past decade. “There is nobody who can survive in an environment like that.
The Toronto Star was losing far too much money – the family trust that held a majority of the voting shares accepted an offer to sell the newspaper.
 Nicole MacIntyre – Toronto Star editor The newspaper was acquired by NordStar Capital on May 26, 2020, after the board of Torstar voted to sell the company to the investment firm for CA$52 million—making Torstar a privately held company.
The two businessmen, Jordan Bitove and Paul Rivett bought the newspaper along with the regional newspapers and the chain of weeklies, found that they didn’t share the same vision for the Toronto Star. Bitove bought out Rivett. In July the Star appointed Nicole MacIntyre as editor.
By Staff
October th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Burlington Residents Action Group (BRAG) released the following statement:
 “On Monday, October 7th, 2024 the Committee of the Whole is meeting. Item 8.1 on the agenda is:
Council composition and ward boundary review introductory presentation by consultant (CL-24-24)
“The agenda was made available late last week and included a 14-page report from Watson & Associates, a Mississauga-based consulting firm. This chart is from the report. The average population per council member column has been outlined.
 Average population for Council members in each of the Regional municipalities in the Halton Region. “The chart shows that residents in Burlington are underrepresented compared to other municipalities in Halton. However, when compared with Hamilton, Burlington residents are over represented.
“This is a complex issue. Each Burlington councillor has a full-time assistant to help with their workload, adding a layer between residents and elected representatives. Will adding more councillors remove the need for assistants or will costs increase? Councillors in Halton Hills, based on 2022 data, earned about half of what a councillor in Burlington earned.
“The chart above also shows that Burlington has the smallest number of councillors compared to other municipalities in Halton.
Smaller councils:
-
-
- Limit the number of people contributing ideas.
- Make it more difficult for people to have meaningful dialogues with their councillors.
- Require only four people, a majority, to make decisions about the direction of the city.
“Development is a major issue facing our city council. Are four votes sufficient to represent the diverse interests of the community?
“Currently, each Burlington councillor also serves as a regional councillor and the number of regional councillors will not change. If Burlington increases the number of councillors any new councillors would not have regional responsibilities or receive part of their salary from the region.
“Watson & Associates will present their report during the day on Monday. The first community engagement session is Monday night (7 pm Tansley Woods community room 1).
“The Burlington Residents’ Action Group is looking into this issue. At this point, all we can say is that we’ve seen the report. Like everyone else who lives in Burlington, and doesn’t work for the city, we have other commitments in our lives.
“Dropping a report on a Thursday and starting community engagement three or four days later is insufficient. Before providing input to the city, people need time to read the report, research the issue, and form conclusions.
“The report makes no recommendations for change, leaving residents without a starting point for a meaningful discussion with the city. This does not align with what was budgeted for in March, where the first step, for $60,000, included “recommendations for council composition” (CL-03-24).
 Cost of the research done by consultants. “This process is similar to the budget engagement sessions that wrap up on October 8th. There have been many “engagement” meetings but no detailed draft budget for residents to review.
“Burlington continues to engage with residents in a way that inhibits meaningful engagement. Something needs to change. Will having more council members help?”
By Pepper Parr
October 6th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
The City of Burlington has many different types of facilities and parks available for rent to the public for sporting activities, meetings, parties, group photography and special occasions.
Space has always been available in city property but it was never actively marketed. That change in policy came out of some of the discussions as to how the Bateman High school, now repurposed as the Robert Bateman Community Centre, was going to use the space that was going to be available.
 Denise Beard, Manager of Community Development Denise Beard, Manager of Community Development, explained that events like Family Reunions needed a large space that didn’t quite work at commercial locations.
The idea then was to experiment which has resulted in:
 Tansley Woods Community Centre The City of Burlington is introducing two new ways to rent community rooms at Tansley Woods Community Centre, designed for flexibility and convenience. New Short-Notice Community Room Rentals at Tansley Woods – started September 16, 2024
The community rooms are available during non-peak hours on weekdays, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Spaces are intended for personal and community use only. Some examples of activities allowed are meetings, card games, light activities.
Residents can still book community rooms more than seven days in advance. Standard rental and insurance rates apply to bookings made more than a week in advance.
Exclusions include Tansley Woods Community Centre gyms and pools, commercial or for-profit organizations, and community rooms at other city facilities.
- Free, On-the-Spot Bookings
Walk in and check availability at the customer service desk
If a room is available, sign yourself in and enjoy a room for free
Insurance is not required
Room is available up to 90 minutes
- Pay What You Can
Book up to 7 days in advance and pay what you can
To book, complete the online rental request form or email the rentals team for more information
To complete your booking, select your Facility Room Setup
A minimum insurance fee of $4 per hour will be required
 By Pepper Parr
October 5th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
They are doing it again.
Holding public meetings about important events before the public has had an opportunity to read up on a decision council is going to have to make.
 The matter in this case is the announcement that the City is going to review the composition of City Council and the size and number of wards. There are currently six wards in Burlington.
The first council debate on Tuesday will start with a presentation by Wilson, the company that did the early research. Few if any know about the item on the agenda – difficult for people to delegate on something they not heard about before.
This is just so typical of this Council.
To the add to the concern and importance of determining how many Councillors there should be and if they should continue to also be Regional Councillors is the conflict they all face – half the pay cheques for the Council members comes from the Region.
This lip service on the claim to be engaging the public is getting very annoying.
The City has a large communications staff – do they never suggest that Council needs to up its game and be more direct with the public – or do they just churn out whatever they think Council wants.
Many of the staff at Communications are referred to as “advisors” – could they not advise council ?
Perhaps the Chief Administrative Officer might have a word with the Mayor
Related news article:
Changes to the size of city Council
Salt with Pepper is an opinion column reflecting the observations and musings of the publisher of the Gazette, an on-line newspaper that is in its 12th year as a news source in Burlington and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
By Pepper Parr
October 5th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
The population growth the City is expected to experience calls for a hard look at the ward boundaries and deciding if the number of wards (currently six) is the right number and what any change to the Regional government is going to have on the composition of City Council.
A review of the composition of Burlington City Council and the city’s ward boundaries is set to begin. The review will assess how well the current council size and structure, and ward boundaries work for our community.
 The evolution of Burlington from 1914 when it was a town to with a population of 1,831 to the 2021 population of 186,948 Population in 2031 is expected to be more than 225,000 All residents and Burlington business owners are invited to share their input through a series of upcoming public engagements starting next week.
Public engagement and Council decisions
Public engagement and Council decisions will happen in two phases for the review.
Phase one, residents will be asked for their input on council composition. Input gathered from the community will be used to help inform a report that will go to City Council for their consideration in December 2024.
Phase two, public engagement will focus on ward boundaries. This phase is anticipated to start early in 2025.
 The changes that took place between 2011 and 2021 – the last census done was in 2021  Population of each ward based on 2021 census data.
Council composition public engagement opportunities
Monday, Oct. 7 – 9:30 a.m., presentation at Committee of the Whole, Council Chambers, 426 Brant St.
Monday, Oct. 7 – 7 to 8:30 p.m., Tansley Woods Community Centre, 1996 Itabashi Way
Wednesday, Oct. 9 – 7 to 8:30 p.m., Central Arena, 519 Drury Ln
Thursday, Oct. 10 – 1:30 to 3 p.m., Mountainside Recreation Centre, 2205 Mt. Forest Dr.
Tuesday, Oct. 15 – 7 to 8:30 p.m., virtual public meeting
Wednesday, Oct. 23 – 7 to 8:30 p.m., Haber Community Centre, 3040 Tim Dobbie Dr.
Residents and business owners can also share their feedback through the council composition and ward boundary survey, available on getinvolvedburlington.ca/boundaryreview – starting Oct.7.
There are a number of questions raised in the report that Council will debate on Tuesday:
How does the present electoral arrangement for the City of Burlington measure up?
Do the current wards deliver fair representation, conducive to good governance?
What are the goals of a Ward Boundary Review?
Is the principle that all local councillors are also regional councillors still right for the City?
What information does Council need to make an informed decision?
Why Undertake the Review?
Prepare Council to consider and discuss whether to maintain the existing council composition and ward boundaries or pursue an alternative arrangement.
Fair Representation
Reviewing electoral arrangements can help ensure equal representation and give communities an equitable voice in decision-making processes.
Consider Population and Demographic Changes
A review can align boundaries, reflect population shifts, and better serve evolving community distribution and interests.
Improve Democracy
An independent review promotes transparency and accountability, bolstering trust in the democratic system, and increasing civic engagement.
 The make up of Burlington City Council compared to Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills.
By Staff
October 5th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Ross Scott, Marketing Specialist with Car Nation explained how the Drive Pink initiative came about when he said:
 “All across Canada, small, local businesses take on a life of their own, driven by one person’s vision, hard work, and determination. Trials and tribulations abound as a business grows into a mature enterprise. People help you along the way; you capitalize on your opportunities, learn from your mistakes, and move forward, always ensuring that you did your best, worked your hardest, and conducted yourself honestly while improving the industry that you are a part of.
“A portion of every car sold at our dealerships will be donated to Canadian Cancer Society. The $10,000 is our guaranteed commitment to the Cancer Society; meaning our donation will be at least $10,000 but could be more depending on how many cars we’re able to sell within the month.
“Yes, we’ve done this before. This is a tradition at our dealerships.”
Scott talks about how corporate practices helped – “Car Nation Canada became one of the most reputable automotive groups in Ontario. Their reputation was the result of unifying the sales process of the automotive-buying experience that assures exceptional customer service is experienced by anyone and everyone who walks through any Car Nation Canada Dealership door, no matter where they are located.
“Car Nation Canada has carefully considered who they are and how they wish to be perceived by the car-buying public. Today’s car buyer has done their research and is much more informed than ever when they make their purchase.
“Car Nation Canada understands the importance of making an informed decision. Our mandate is to become the market leader in providing resources that will help consumers make better purchasing decisions.
“No matter what brand or city you are in, you can always be assured that Car Nation Canada Dealerships include great-looking dealerships, exceptional service, a friendly, no-hassle environment, and the most competitively priced vehicles anywhere in Ontario.”
Which brings us back to the people at Car Nation that are working to make the Drive Pink a success.
 The Car Nation Drive Pink Team Grimsby Kia – Grimsby, ON – GrimsbyKia.com
Car Nation Canada Direct – Burlington, ON – CarNationCanadaDirect.ca
Northway Ford – Brantford, ON – NorthwayFord.ca
Northway Lincoln – Brantford, ON – NorthwayLincoln.ca
Unique Chrysler – Burlington, ON – UniqueChrysler.com
By Staff
October 4th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
The development planned on Caroline a block to the east of Brant Street will be the subject of Statutory meeting on November 5th, 2024.
 Rendering of the tower that will be located on Caroline one block eat of Brant Street. Development applications have been submitted for an Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment by Inaria Burlington Inc., for a 28-storey mixed use building with 302 residential units and a 6-storey above grade parking structure with a green roof adjacent to an existing 17-storey residential building bounded by Caroline Street, Elizabeth Street, Maria Street, and John Street.
This proposal has a background that is both disappointing and not what the public has a right to expect from the developers that want to change the skyline of the city.
Link here for background on this one.
The city has scheduled this event for 9:30 in the morning – not very convenient for those who work full time and are doing the event virtually. The days when the public could meet the developers at city hall and ask questions. This format lets the developer hide.
Why this Council tolerates this form of engagement is truly disturbing.
You might want to reach out to Mark Bales at 905-637-8888, ext. 214 or by email at: mark@carriagegate.ca
Note that Bales is a senior staff member at Carriage Gate, the people who built the tower opposite City Hall and are now putting up a 29 storey Tower on Pearl Street and have a development that is proposed for the eastern end of the football.
 Currently under construction at Pearl and north side of Lakeshore Road  Developer has situated the tower at the convergence of Old Lakeshore and Lakeshore Road
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