 By Pepper Parr
January 30th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Burlington likes to recognize people for the contributions they have made to the larger community.
On many occasions the same person gets recognized again and again –leaving the impression that the organization giving the reward hasn’t looked all that hard for the truly deserving. Fifty woman were nominated this year. A link to see all 50 is HERE
This year the Tammy Fox has been nominated for the YWCA Halton Women of Distinction Award.
 Tammy is the Executive Director of the Performing Arts Centre; a challenge at any time.
Building the audience and looking for artists that she can are more than a full time job.
The lock down in 2020 shut down everything – re-opening BPAC was a delicate process that Fox managed better than many.
She has found ways to bring in a wider audience and at the same time create space for performers who have not yet found their place.
 Her most recent contribution to making BPAC a part of the community was the setting up the regular Business Networking event.
The YWCA legacy of celebrating fierce women and changemakers began 48 years ago and continues today with over 1,850 women and girls having been celebrated for their remarkable achievements in their sectors and communities.
Other nominees are
Join in celebrating this fierce group of inspirational community leaders at the Gala on March 7th.
Thursday March 7th, 2024
Hamilton Convention Centre by Carmen’s
1 Summers Ln, Hamilton, ON L8P 4Y2
6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. – Cocktail Reception
7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. – Dinner and Awards Gala
9:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. – Red Carpet
9:30 p.m. until late – After-Party Celebration
Tickets available HERE
 By Staff
January 30th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
The Ontario Legislative Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure and Cultural Policy heard from two of Burlington’s city councillors and the Mayor.
The Standing Committee was visiting Ontario’s eight regional municipalities: Halton, York, Durham, Waterloo, Niagara, Peel, Muskoka District, and Oxford County and their lower-tier municipalities for their views on the provincial governments review.
Paul Sharman has this to say:
It’s a pleasure to be here. My name is Paul Sharman. I’m a ward 5 councillor for the city of Burlington in the region of Halton. I am also the deputy mayor of strategy, budget, process and performance, and president of Halton Community Housing Corp.
 Councillor Paul Sharman: I reorganize corporations. I’ll just take, very quickly, a few seconds to describe why I’m here and the perspective that I will offer you. I have been an elected official for 13 years now. I’ve won four elections. But I’m an accountant; I’m a management accountant. I’ve operated as a controller at Nortel and other companies but, more importantly, I ran a consulting firm—and still do—for 30 years.
What I do is reorganize corporations, including some very large corporations. The Canadian government has been a client of mine. I’ve reorganized companies like US West, Kellogg and many corporations like that. My perspective in what I’m about to say is that of a consultant, somebody who reorganizes corporations. I’ve spent many years focusing on downsizing, many years on process redesign, and many years on economic analysis and activity analysis and performance measurement.
I take none of this discussion lightly.
I’ll start off by saying that I have some general organization performance observations of all levels of government, but whatever I’m saying here especially relates to the building of new homes and the required future amenities and infrastructure, because it’s not just about housing. We cannot just have rows and rows of houses like chicken coops. It’s not the right answer. We have to make sure we think holistically about the needs of the community.
Burlington is one of the few communities in Canada, or, in fact, North America, as a result of the work we’ve done, that has a 25-year strategic planning horizon for the community. It’s not about getting elected officials re-elected. We need to change our thought processes to think about the future of our communities.
That said, what I can tell you is the following quite quick statements:
The first thing is all levels of government function in a highly siloed fashion—barriers around everything. There is much fragmentation of work within those silos. People drop work; they get redirected. In our own planning department, we do these things called refilings, because anything we can find to trip up the applicant, to send it back and keep them waiting for another year, we do. We’ve got so much work, we’ve got so many bylaws, and we have such complexity at every level of government, it stops us from being effective.
 Councillor Sharman: “We have poorly designed processes.” We have commenting agencies who are disconnected when dealing with our applications—45 of them. There is significant duplication of work between Halton and Burlington, for example. Why is that? Why don’t we actually plan our processes holistically from the province right the way through down to delivery of housing, instead of just having these disconnects which exist dramatically everywhere?
We have poorly designed processes—I don’t even think we have designed processes in government; they’ve evolved, just like they do everywhere. But unless you design them, they’re not going to work effectively.
We have inadequate focus on the future. We’re thinking about just the last five years or the next five years, but now we’re talking about millions of people coming in the next 30 years. When do we get our brains around redesigning government and all the infrastructure we need to make that happen? We’re not there. We haven’t done that.
We have lack of clarity around purpose. We don’t have clarity around performance expectations at every level. They’re not aligned. We don’t have a 30-year, 25-year strategy for Ontario. When are we going to do that? Because how do you expect anybody to deliver if we’re fuzzy and coming up with hare-brained schemes that we then reverse? It’s because we haven’t been sophisticated, we haven’t thought it through.
Inadequate understanding of roles and responsibilities relative to community at all levels, from strategy through process through services through activities and through KPIs—it’s not put together. How do we do it? How do we get anything done? How can we possibly expect to get speed in delivery of needed homes and services and infrastructure if we can’t even get our brains around how to make it go seamlessly from one level to the other and make it work? We don’t do that.
Finally, consequently, all the activities I see are hugely inefficient, hugely ineffective and very wasteful of taxpayers’ money. We can do better, and this is the room where I think you can influence it.
So, what works in the region? I can tell you. The first thing I’ll say is the employers at all levels of professions are impressive in many ways. I truly appreciate their professionalism, their patience and desire to be supportive of elected officials and regulations.
 Councillor Sharman: “I don’t like being told what to do. “ Operations in the region of exclusively controlled spheres which are mostly controlled by the province seem pretty good. But, actually, I don’t like being told what to do, because we have to have carriage of the buildings that we’re going to do in Burlington, so we need to say to other regions what we’re going to deliver, what we want them to deliver to us, not the other way round. I’m being consistent with the mayor’s thought process.
What doesn’t work well is—well, I’m going to start off with a statement, and you can believe this or not. You can take it as you like.
My belief is as region decisions are made, the only democratically elected representatives of any lower-tier municipality are the councillors of that lower-tier municipality and the region chair. Other members do not represent the interests of any other lower-tier municipality other than their own. That causes difficulties around that region table that we don’t need, which is why I’m supportive of the notion—absolutely no amalgamation.
But, furthermore, I want to give carriage to the lower-tier for everything, because it gets in the way when we find regional people saying, “Well, we’re in charge. That’s the way it will be done.” For example, we’ve got this open sewer running through the middle of Burlington called the QEW – but we can’t get control of the access and egress of that road during peak hours when that sewer blocks up and it spews all into our city roads. We talked to the province, and what’s the answer? “Oh, well, you should just, you know, have no parking requirements with high-rise towers.”
I am a long way from finished with this conversation. I have more to say. It’s all in the materials I’ve left with you, and I’ll be more than happy to have a conversation with any and all of you at your wish. Thank you.
Sharman certainly wasn’t pulling his punches. The Legislative Committee was hearing what Burlington residents have heard for the past 12 years.
Once each of the three made their seven minute address they were asked questions by the members of the Standing Committee that was made up of MPP’s who were part of the government and MPP’s who were part of the NDP opposition.
 Standing Committee member Mary Margaret McMahon told Sharman: “…this has got to be the most energetic and frank comment. I appreciate your candour. Honestly, you just tell it like it is.” Expect to see these comments in Sharman’s campaign literature in 2026 Ms. Mary-Margaret McMahon MPP for Beaches in Toronto said: “I have to say that your panel has got to be the most energetic and frank. I appreciate your candour. Honestly, you just tell it like it is.”
Mme Dawn Gallagher Murphy had a specific question for Sharman. ” I noted in your comments you talked about the complexity of all levels of government. You talked specifically about duplication of work. As it pertains to building more homes, could you give me a specific example of where duplication of work comes in that is perhaps preventing Burlington from making sure more homes can get built?
Mr. Paul Sharman: Sure. As you will know, there are different groups or organizations involved with approving the applications: the region, Conservation Halton and the city of Burlington. What happens is, they all take their time, and they all have their own rules and their own bylaws and all the rest of it. We can just do it all at the city. The duplication is that we’re going through the same administration process of getting an application, trying to review it, looking at our rules and suggesting it could be done as a single stream within the city of Burlington.
Mme Dawn Gallagher Murphy: From a regional perspective, does that mean the region should not be involved in that—that you can do it yourself?
Mr. Paul Sharman: In my general view, the answer is that we should do as much as can be done at the lower level as possible.
The thing that may not be recognized here and that contributes to why we have very low starts in housing is because we’re built out; we have no greenfield.
The fact that the planning regime uses things called BPE, which is rear-view mirror looking, and it was never considered that we would actually be requiring to grow—it was only on November 8 that we found out we were going to have, actually, 70,000 more people. And then when the province—and we were very pleased—converted those lands to mixed use, 700 acres, it gave us the opportunity to have some growth and have a future. But the fact is, there is no analysis that deals with anything other than planning code and official plans. There is no consideration of the social benefits of development. There is no triple bottom line, and there is no win-win-win. So the fact of the matter is, we are not thinking holistically. We are not thinking about our future.
We need to be out there—30 years—looking at the mix of people coming here, because there’s going to be huge numbers of people from the subcontinent and from Asia, and they will not be used to the things that we wouldn’t have because we don’t have the land. We actually have to think about it now, because otherwise we’ll keep doing what we’re doing right now, in chunks of five years, and it will just be more of the same old, row after row after row. So we have to take action now.
Ms. Mary-Margaret McMahon, a Liberal member said she was “ going to start with Paul, the most frank person I’ve met yet—love it. You were talking about us not being forward-thinking and planning for the future, and I agree. I’m a big environmentalist; that’s why I got back in this nutty world, let’s say, and I’m very worried about the lack of climate action. We’ve been told by our Financial Accountability Officer about the high cost of inaction for building resilient infrastructure. If you could think of one thing for sure that is forward-thinking and acting now or yesterday, what would that be?
Mr. Paul Sharman: I’m a data freak, and I’d start off with the numbers. I hear a lot of ideological arguments about save the grass blade, save the world. I think that is uninformed. I also believe we need environment care.
 Councillor Sharman said: “It was never considered that we would actually be requiring to grow—it was only on November 8 that we found out we were going to have, actually, 70,000 more people. I just think we’re not having balanced conversations about what the real situation is and what has to be accomplished. The aging community leaves us in a place where we can’t have babies enough to fill jobs. We can’t find housing because everybody is getting older and not dying. So we actually have to look out 30 years and ask ourselves who needs to be here, how we’re going to get them, how we’re going to look after the environment and what social benefits of development we’re going to provide, including all the infrastructure. And do some planning at the province level, please.
That was it. Burlington made its case. Mayor Meed Ward made it very clear that Burlington did not want to become part of what she feared was going to be the City of Halton.
She said: “This is the Burlington council position. We have unanimously endorsed a resolution that:
—we are open to consideration of all feasible governance options except amalgamation to a mega-city of Halton;
—governance changes should be supported by local-tier councils, based on community engagement, and should deliver better services quicker and faster; and
—needed community infrastructure is funded through development charges or senior levels of government.
“Local government is the closest to the people. We understand the needs of our community. We do not need an imposed solution from any other level of government. Our community really doesn’t care who’s delivering the services as long as they’re delivered well.
” We would like the province and the federal government to provide us with the funds we need to get the job of building new homes done.”
Burlington made the point that they could do much of the work the Region currently does, but realized is as well that there are tasks that have to be done on a Regional basis. Providing the drinking water and waste water management, or is as Mayor Meed Ward put it – Taps to toilets should be regional. Transit, which is now run by the municipalities could, and should be run Regionally. Roads, storm water management and, obviously, drainage.
The Standing Committee will complete its road trip and then debate and discuss what they want to present to the Legislature. This isn’t going to happen in a few months – it could be is as much as a ear before there is a report.
The last time the province looked at the municipal; structure NAMES toured the province, spent a day at the Region listening to what each municipality and prepared a report. That report was never made public.
The report the Standing Committee makes will be public and that is about all that can be said at this point.
 By Pepper Parr
January 29th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
An update on the washrooms in the John Street Transit Terminal.
There will be no public washrooms.
Here is what we got from City Communications earlier today:
The washrooms in the John Street Burlington Transit Bus Terminal were closed to the public during the COVID pandemic. The facilities will continue to be for staff use only to ensure transit staff are able to take their health breaks and not impact transit service, in a safe and clean facility.
Public washrooms are available nearby in Sims Square, 390 Brant St., main floor (170 metres away) and Burlington City Hall, 426 Brant St., lobby (300 metres away).
Something isn’t quite right here.
There were two public washrooms before Covid.
When Covid changed the way we lived, the city made one of the two washrooms a Unisex washroom and one for Staff only.
That seemed reasonable
 When Covid was seen as much less the threat it once was both washrooms were changed to Staff Only. and a plastic door with barrier graphics put in place.
The Gazette contacted the City Communications department and learned that the current status: Both washrooms would be for Staff only when there are just two people working at the transit station.
We kept having to get back to the Communications department.
In a recent survey on how people felt about the services the city provides it became clear that Burlington is a car centric city.
For people who have to use public transit who need to use a public washroom – tough luck.
The Director of Transit operations is reported to be holding a meeting at St. Luke’s Anglican Church on on Wednesday.
 By Staff
January 29th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
It was not a good week for Premier Ford.
The Greenbelt scandal is the kind of thing that defeats a government. It is complex – when the matter has $7.8 billion attached to it – you can bet that it is complex.
The more complex the facts are the harder it becomes for people to understand just how bad the issue is.
Behind all the revelations is the RCMP investigation. If they decide that there was criminal behaviour and charges are laid – it doesn’t really do very much other than make the mess smell even worse. The Conservatives have a clear majority in the Legislature – and the next election is not until 2026 – plenty of time for the public to forget what is admittedly very complex.
Bonnie Crombie is expected to be an MPP in the not too distant future which will mean Ford will have to women hammering away at him every day.
 NDP leader of the Opposition Marit Stile standing in a field that was taken out of the Greenbelt lands and made available for development. Marit Stiles, the NDP leader of the Opposition dropped another clutch of email traffic that she obtained through a Freedom of Information application related to email that was sent on computer servers that were not part of those that are operated by the government. Politicians and government staff are required to use the equipment the government provides.
Stiles made what she found public and the Toronto Star was all over the material – that was more than revealing.
Stiles maintained that the Premier was not truthful when he met with the Integrity Commissioner. Recall that it was the Integrity Commissioners’’ report that led to the resignation of the then Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and the decision on the part of the government to roll back the decision it made to approve development on land that was within the Greenbelt boundaries.
Emails obtained in response to a Freedom of Information request suggest a timeline that is inconsistent with the testimonies provided by Ryan Amato and Patrick Sackville under oath, and that the Premier’s office knew about the land swaps much earlier than they claimed.
“This e-mail shows that the Premier’s office was far more involved in the Greenbelt land removals than Mr. Ford claimed” said Stiles. “The Conservatives are trying desperately to make this scandal go away, but it is becoming increasingly clear that they cannot hide from their corruption.
“With each new piece of evidence, we are seeing more cracks in the narrative that the Premier and his insiders have been trying to spin. But the truth is becoming clearer every day – Mr. Ford was not in the dark about his government’s corrupt Greenbelt decisions.
 Premier Ford in conversation with Steve Clark while he was still a member of Cabinet. “It’s time for the Conservatives to come clean about how they deceived Ontarians with this Greenbelt fiasco. If they don’t, I’m confident the RCMP will.”
At issue is an Oct. 17, 2022 email exchange — on their private accounts instead of on government servers — between Patrick Sackville, then the premier’s principal secretary and now his chief of staff, and Ryan Amato, at the time the top aide to then-municipal affairs minister Steve Clark.
In a message from Amato to Sackville that day, (October 17th) the ministerial chief of staff shared a “list of criteria for removals” of 7,400 acres from the two-million-acre environmentally sensitive Greenbelt around the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.
These include “infrastructure services,” such as nearby roads, gas and water mains, hydro lines, police and fire services, among other things.
It also listed “potential offsets” such as the Paris Galt Moraine “green space our government has decided not to move on” and “options to go larger depending on executive interest.”
The timing of the email is at odds with testimony made under oath to J. David Wake, the Integrity Commissioner, for his August 30 report on the Greenbelt land swap.
“Members of the premier’s staff also told us they were not involved in the selection of properties,” wrote Wake.
“Mr. Sackville said he did not discuss specific properties to be removed or removal criteria with Mr. Amato until the briefing that occurred on October 27, 2022,” the ethics watchdog continued.
“Mr. Sackville recalled being first briefed about the Greenbelt project at a meeting facilitated by the cabinet office on October 27, 2022. He told me that he recalled the intentions of the policy were discussed and that it should be ‘programmatic,’ meaning that it should be something that could be repeated and made standard.”
But that was 10 days after the Oct. 17 email in which criteria for removal of the lands from the Greenbelt was addressed. Clark announced the changes on Nov. 4, 2022.
“This email … shows that the premier’s office was far more involved than Mr. Ford claims in the selection of Greenbelt lands for removal,” said NDP Leader Marit Stiles.
 Premier Doug Ford – the evidence now available suggests some of the statements the Premier made to the Integrity Commissioner were not the truth. “Conservatives very much want their Greenbelt scandal to go away, but it is glaringly clear they can’t hide from what they’ve done,” said Stiles, who has asked Wake to “provide an opinion on whether it is consistent with Mr. Sackville’s testimony to your office under oath.”
“With each new piece of evidence, we are seeing more cracks in the narrative Mr. Ford and his insiders have been trying desperately to get people to believe — that Ford was in the dark about this scheme to carve up prime farmland and green space for land speculators,” she said.
Last week, the integrity commissioner advised Stiles he would “need some time to review the evidence, not only of Mr. Sackville, but other witnesses to determine whether there was an inconsistency in the evidence.”
“If I determine that there was an inconsistency, I will provide you with my opinion as to what, if any, significance might attach to it. I will get back to you as soon as I have had an opportunity to review the matter,” Wake wrote her on Jan. 15.
But the email was shared with the NDP by cabinet office lawyers as soon as the now-chief of staff, who receives hundreds of messages daily, found and forwarded it.
“This record was just discovered upon deeper review,” Sackville wrote Dec. 20 to cabinet office general counsel Don Fawcett.
Two days later, it was handed over to the New Democrats, who had filed a freedom of information request months earlier.
 Patrick Sackville, former principal secretary and current chief of staff to the Premier. “To ensure all necessary due diligence was exercised, Patrick Sackville … conducted additional searches within his personal email account,” wrote Janet Dadufalza, senior freedom of information manager in cabinet office.
“From this search, an email that is considered to be responsive to your request was found. Partial access is granted,” she wrote the NDP on Dec. 22.
But “access to the remaining record continues to be denied” because of cabinet privilege.
It is unclear why personal email accounts were being used to conduct official government business.
Amato Ford- government staffer at the centre of greenbelt controversy resigned on August 22. Clark, who remains the MPP for Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, quit Ford’s cabinet on Sept. 4.
Through his lawyer, Kathryn Marshall, Amato declined to comment.
Ford has insisted he was out of the loop about the removal of 15 parcels of land from the Greenbelt that the auditor general estimated would be worth $8.28 billion to property owners.
“I had nothing to do with the changes in the Greenbelt … the auditor general cleared us, cleared my office, and the integrity commissioner cleared me and my office,” he premier said October. 31.
In separate reports last summer, the Auditor General and Integrity Commissioner found certain developers with Tory connections were “favoured” in an unusual process supposedly led by Amato.
On Sept. 21, an embattled Ford finally cancelled the land swap, which is now being investigated by the RCMP.
“It was a mistake to open the Greenbelt. I’m very, very sorry,” the premier said that day.
“I made a promise to you that I wouldn’t touch the Greenbelt. I broke that promise. As a first step to earning back your trust, I’ll be reversing the changes. We moved too quickly and we made the wrong decision … it caused people to question our motives.”
Other casualties of the imbroglio were Kaleed Rasheed, who was forced out as Ford’s business minister and turfed from the Progressive Conservative caucus last September, and Jae Truesdell, who was Ford’s housing adviser.
Rasheed and Truesdell were on a controversial 2020 trip to Las Vegas with Greenbelt developer Shakir Rehmatullah and Amin Massoudi, who was the Premier’s principal secretary at the time.
 Parm Gill, MPP for Milton and member of the Ford Cabinet resigns. Some of northern Burlington is in the Milton riding. Last week Cabinet Minister Park Gill resigned to run as a federal Conservative.
The Legislature will return to Queen’s Park February 24th.
Who did what and when:
Patrick Sackville (former principal secretary and current chief of staff to the Premier) and Ryan Amato (former chief of staff to the former Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing) exchanged information including “list of criteria for removals” of 7,400 acres of the Greenbelt
These emails were exchanged 10 days before the dates that Amato and Sackville provided to the Office of the Integrity Commissioner in a testimony made under oath
Amato and Sackville used their personal emails to exchange information about public policy instead of their government emails
Using personal email for conducting government business does not exempt one from the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, as outlined in the Auditor General’s special report on the Greenbelt land removals which saw recurring use of personal emails by government staff
By Staff
January 29, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Speaking before the Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure and Cultural Policy earlier this month Mayor Meed Ward laid out the development numbers for Burlington,
She said:
 Mayor Marianne Meed Ward was one of three members of Council appearing before the the Legislative Standing Committee. “We have over 40,000 units in our development pipeline. Our target is only 29,000, but we’re not going to stop at that; we’ll keep building as long as people need a home.
“There are 7,500 at the tribunal;
“2,770 are waiting for the development industry to come in and apply for a site plan;
“7,972 are under review—that is the municipal permit process—and 3,940 have already been approved.
“We’re just waiting for developers to come in and get a permit. Why aren’t they? That would be a really good question for you to ask them.
“Another 18,541 are in the pre-application stage. That’s the hope-and-a-dream stage, where somebody owns a piece of property and they come in and they say, “I might want to do something with it. What can I do?”
 A development on Waterdown Road in the western side of the city that has appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal for a decision. “Many of those —not all, but many of those do turn into a permit, but that’s where it starts.”
Later in the day Meed Ward spoke about why development application are at the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT).
Asked by Mr. Matthew Rae. a member of the Legislative Committee: “Is it true that the city of Burlington is appealing a lot of those? Did they send them, or with their support, to the tribunal?”
 “ Ms. Marianne Meed Ward: “No, actually. Those are appealed often by the developer for the time it takes to develop applications. As Councillor Sharman said earlier, we’re not doing greenfield development in Burlington. It’s highly complex infill development: major, 30-storey, five, six, seven towers in one area. The kind of review that is required doesn’t happen within the 120 days. Often, the information we need from the applicant, we don’t even get within the 120 days. And there is no recognition or change between that and a much smaller two semi-detached units. It’s 120 days, that’s it, and shortened very recently.
“We get appealed for non-decision because developers want to get their name in the queue early. That is why they’re going there, because often we get—they told us, “We want to continue working with you to get an answer, but we need to get our spot at the OLT, so we’re not going to wait another three or four months for you to get the decision that is probably the right one. We’re going to put our name into the OLT.” Well, that stops everything, and that just adds another two years to the time frame for getting an approval because of the delays at the tribunal, because of the de novo changes, that you reset back, where everything starts at the very beginning again as if there had been no review.
“So all of our work, that happens at a local level, it’s gone, and it starts all over again with experts and submissions. And one tribunal person, not elected, appointed by the government, makes that decision.”
By Pepper Parr
January 28th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Parm Gill, the Conservative member of the provincial legislature has resigned and announced that he will run for the Milton federal seat.
Parm Gill decides the House of Commons is a safer place than Queen’s Par,k – chooses to leave the Ford government. Has Gill come to the conclusion that the Ford government is toast and has decided to look for greener grass?
Political pundits think the riding might be a good place for Provincial Liberal Party leader Bonnie Crombie to run for office. The Premier has six months to call a by-election – that would result in a summer election in Milton.
The Milton constituency includes some of the northern part of Burlington.
Bonnie Crombie shouldn’t expect anything in the way of support from Milton Mayor Gord Krantz – he is as blue blooded a Tory is as they come.
 Is Bonnie Crombie eyeing the seat in Milton that will become available? Crombie could sweet talk Krantz into being neutral – he has done that in the past.
Milton has a solid federal candidate in Adam van Koeverden – he and Crombie would be very capable campaigners.
Could be interesting – something to keep an eye on while we wait for Crombie to decide what she wants to do.
Wherever she runs – she has to win – it has to be a solid win,
By Pepper Parr
January 28th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
First in a series
In August 2022 Public Service Canada published a lengthy report on Flood Insurance and Relocation.
The Executive Summary of the report set out four subject areas that were focus points
Executive Summary
A Task Force to Explore Insurance Solutions
A Shared Evidence-Basis for Decision-Making
Key Findings of the Task Force
Living with Water
In August of 2014 the City experienced a devastating flood in the eastern part of the City.
 In April of 2019 Burlington declared a Climate Emergency.
By 2024 most of the world had come to the realization that we were dealing with a crisis and that not everyone was on board.
The report set out, to some degree, what water means to Canadians. Four out of the five Great Lakes lie between the United States and Canada. They are Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario; the only Great Lake that does not border Canada is Lake Michigan.
The foreseeable future suggests that Canadians must learn to live with water. Yet, the country cannot do this at the expense of safety, fiscal responsibility, or equity.
It is clear from this work that flood insurance solutions for high-risk areas can be designed to meet the Public Policy Objectives; however, each model examined contains trade-offs that must be balanced. It is also apparent that given the amount of flood risk in Canada, none of the insurance models can provide affordable insurance and also be financially self-sufficient, at least in the short term. Even over a longer-term (25 year) transition to risk-based pricing, financial sustainability will continue to be challenged by inflation, significant asset concentration in flood-prone areas, and long-term climate change pressures.
 The Canada United States border is shown as a thin red line Consequently, to live with water, Canada will require more than an insurance solution to address its flood risk landscape. Insurance must be deployed in conjunction with information, investments and incentives at all levels that are designed to reduce flood risk. Such elements include: improved flood mapping and public awareness of flood risk, risk reduction by all stakeholders, improved land-use planning, and climate-resilient built and natural infrastructure. In addition, for an insurance solution to be successful, recovery funding provided to residential properties for flooding though FPT disaster financing programs would need to cease or be restructured to avoid undermining the insurance system. This is an important step towards aligning responsibilities for flood risk.
The findings in this report are meant to provide governments with the foundation to understand the different policy levers and key considerations to be factored into decision-making, and to ensure that any insurance solution strives to effectively meet the defined policy objectives and serve all Canadians impacted by flooding. Particularly, it is important to consider policy options that account for the populations that are disproportionately affected by floods and have lower levels of resiliency to cope with them.
Continuing to advance this work will require coordination and commitment from each stakeholder to exercise their jurisdictional role and develop a way forward for implementation. The collective challenge will be to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good, thereby preventing the implementation of a solution that could nonetheless dramatically improve upon the status quo for Canadians who remain at high risk and who continue to experience tremendous loss from ever-increasing flood events. A new approach to flood insurance will not solve all vulnerability to flooding. However, with a strong stakeholder commitment and decisive action, it could play an important role in empowering Canadians to adapt to flood risk, and building disaster resilience across our nation.
. In recent years, the gap between insured losses and total economic losses has also widened significantly. In 2020, this “protection gap” widened to a record $231 billion worldwide, with around 75% of potential global losses from natural disasters remaining insured with insufficient coverageFootnote 7. The consequences of this are already being experienced across Canada, where disaster costs have risen dramatically in recent years. Before 1995, only three disasters in Canadian history exceeded $500 million (2014 dollars), but from 2013 to 2017, Canada had disaster losses totaling $16.4 billion. Prior to 2009, insured losses from catastrophic severe weather averaged $400 million per year; since then, the annual average has reached $1.4 billion.
 The 2014 flood centered on the creeks that were not built to handle the flow of water: The trajectory of disaster trends poses significant risks to the health and well-being of Canadians, the economy, and the natural environment. Governments and other stakeholders must continue to work together to address the growing impacts of disasters. In 2019, the federal, provincial, and territorial (FPT) governments approved the Emergency Management Strategy for Canada: Toward a Resilient 2030 (EM Strategy), which provides a long-term, strategic vision for emergency management in Canada that is aligned with the United Nations Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.
The Emergency Management Strategy seeks to guide federal, provincial, and territorial governments and their respective EM partners (including but not limited to: Indigenous peoples, municipalities, communities, volunteer and non-governmental organizations, the private sector, critical infrastructure owners and operators, academia, and volunteers) to build resilience through five priority areas for action:
Enhance whole-of-society collaboration and governance to strengthen resilience;
Improve understanding of disaster risks in all sectors of society;
Increase focus on whole-of-society disaster prevention and mitigation activities;
Enhance disaster response capacity and coordination and foster the development of new capabilities; and
Strengthen recovery efforts by building back better to minimize the impacts of future disasters.
Priority 3 includes as a priority outcome that “FPT governments assist in the development of options for sharing the financial risk of disasters”, which could include “engag[ing] the private sector to develop an affordable private flood insurance model for the entire population, including clear incentives for mitigation of flood risks”.
 Flooding – up front and very personal. In Canada, recent efforts to reduce disaster risk have focused in large part on flooding, given that it is the country’s most common and costly natural disaster. Flooding has caused approximately $1.5 billion in damage to households, property and infrastructure in Canada annually in recent years (approximately $700 million in insured losses and $800 million in uninsured losses), with residential property owners bearing approximately 75% of uninsured losses each. Several million homes in Canada are vulnerable to flooding, and many cannot access adequate insurance to protect themselves. These households must rely on their own resources or limited post-disaster financial assistance from governments or not-for-profit groups to recover from flooding events, which do not fully compensate for all financial losses.
The report runs to 117 pages. The Gazette will cover the fundamentals in a four part series.
 The golf course came first and included an infrastructure to manage the flooding. An additional 98 homes threatens the capacity of the infrastructure. To tighten the focus from a Canada wide viewpoint to a local issue we will frequently turn to the problem the people in the Millcroft community face. That community was built around a golf course that included an infrastructure that was designed to manage the flow of water.
A developer purchased the golf course and then filed an application to build an additional 98 homes that would, in the minds of many in the community damage the infrastructure and result in serious flooding.
They opposed the expansion of additional housing, city council chose not to accept the development proposal and an appeal was filed with the Ontario Land Tribunal.
 By Staff
January 28th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
The number of Canadians ending their lives through medically assisted death (MAID) has grown at a speed that outpaces every other nation in the world.
The Investigative Journalism Bureau, a non-profit newsroom based at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Toronto Star report that assisted deaths accounted for four per cent of all deaths in Canada in 2022 — up from one per cent in 2017, the first full year the legislation was in place. The number of MAID deaths quadrupled during that time. In 2022, the total number hit 13,000 nationwide — a 31 per cent jump from the previous year.
As Canada is poised to expand eligibility criteria under medical assistance in dying (MAID) legislation, data from all 11 countries where the controversial end-of-life treatment exists shows Canada is the fastest-growing adopter in history, an analysis by the Investigative Journalism Bureau and the Toronto Star has found.
Some experts see the rapid growth as a human rights triumph that allows Canadians to make their own choice about when they wish to die with the full support of the state and their doctors. Others fear that failures in the health-care system and social safety net may be contributing to the surge.
“It’s kind of like my mind’s little Holy Grail,” he said of the government’s promise of accessing a physician-assisted death. “I’ve always been living my life with one foot out the door.”
 Jeff Kirby, Dalhousie University The Toronto Star reported that “Jeff Kirby, a professor emeritus in the department of bioethics at Dalhousie University in Halifax, was a member of the federal expert panel tasked by the government in 2021 with drafting safeguards for the expansion of MAID into mental health.
“While he isn’t opposed to the idea, he stepped down from the panel prior to its final report in May 2022, saying safeguards suggested by experts ought to be legally entrenched rather than simply guidance.
“He remains fearful that the new rules welcoming mental health patients to seek MAID lack the rigour and protection to prevent tragedy.
“I really think that Canada as a whole will have lost if it proceeds to March 2024 with no changes,” he says. “I think we have lost a chance to adequately protect members of vulnerable, disadvantaged social groups in a way that we should have.”
Related video:
Senate hearings on MAID
By Staff
January 27th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Do the federal Conservatives in Burlington know something the rest of us don’t know?
They have put their members on notice – nominations for the Tory candidate will take place in the near future.
Here is the notice they published:
 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BURLINGTON’S NOMINATION PROCESS!
Early Connections: Are you interested in voting in the nomination or representing our Riding? Make sure you are an active Conservative Party Member and get involved with our Riding Association early. This way, you’ll be well-informed, have participated and will be ready for the Nomination announcement.
Just this past year our Association planned and held 13 events for Members and Non-Members.
Nomination Applicants: Members who meet the criteria and have been engaged can apply to be a candidate. Some may have already applied.
Those wishing to seek the nomination are able to campaign by selling memberships to those they know or meet.
Approved Nomination Applicants will receive a Membership List after the Close and only then will they be able to reach out to Members by phone, email and door knocking. Using a list ahead of approval may lead to disqualification.
NO APPLICANTS HAVE BEEN APPROVED.
That only happens when the Riding Closes.
Announcement Time: The Conservative Party will issue a Closing Notice to every active CPC member in our Burlington Riding, when they decide the time is right. Two weeks after that notice is given, the Riding will CLOSE.
Use of Membership List: Only Nomination Applicants who are approved by the Party when the Riding Closes, will be given a Riding Membership List with permission to contact those members, as per 8) a) of the ‘Rules & Procedures for Candidate Nomination’:
- If an Applicant is approved to contest the Nomination, the Executive Director or their designate must provide a copy of the list of current members to the Applicant current as of the date of the Closing Notice.
When the Riding is Closed: If at the Close of nominations there is only one approved Contestant, that person will be acclaimed as the Candidate. If there are two or more approved Contestants, then there will be a Nomination Vote at a Nomination Meeting.
Stay tuned for more updates!
Burlington Conservative Association
With the notice out time to take a look at who the potential candidates are.
 The people running the Brown campaign let their candida t be positioned as a gun advocate. Had they let her speak she could have corrected that.  We will see the same face – hopefully the message will reveal the real person – she isn’t the gun advocate – a hobbyist – nothing more. Expect to see Emily Brown seeking the nomination. She was the candidate last time around. Unfortunately the people directing the campaign let Brown be positioned as a gun advocate. She is a member of a gun club and is quite a marksman – for her it was a hobby that she enjoyed and was good at.
The public never really got to see the woman who happens to have a lot going for her as an academic and a business person. Her campaign didn’t benefit from the Conservative Party decision to literally hide their candidates – no debates, no interviews – just photographs of an attractive woman.
Expect to see others come out of the woods to put their name forward.
By Staff
January 26th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Something that has been needed for some time.
 In a collaborative effort, the Halton District School Board (HDSB), Halton Catholic District School Board (HCDSB) and the Halton Collaborative Against Human Trafficking (HCAHT) will host a joint information session on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, to raise awareness about sex trafficking and sexual exploitation in the Halton community.
The session will be held from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at Elsie MacGill Secondary School (1410 Bronte St. S, Milton).
The session will uncover the realities of sex trafficking and exploitation and provide insight into who is at risk, digital and cyber security considerations, warning signs and how to keep our children and youth safe. The information session is open to all members of the Halton community, and child minding will be provided at no cost for children aged four and above. Those interested in attending can register online.
Attendees will have the opportunity to hear from and connect with representatives from local organizations SAVIS of Halton and EFRY Hope and Help for Women. The event will also be attended by survivors of sex trafficking and their families, offering a unique opportunity to learn about the direct effects sex trafficking has on the individual and their community.
 Jennifer Fowler, Superintendent of Education with responsibility for Safe Schools for the Halton District School Board. “Sex-trafficking crimes are on the rise and Halton is no exception. We believe that education and collaboration are key to addressing and combating sex-trafficking in our community,” said Jennifer Fowler, Superintendent of Education with responsibility for Safe Schools for the Halton District School Board. “By working together we hope to raise awareness and take meaningful action to facilitate early and appropriate intervention.”
“By raising awareness and understanding of sex trafficking, we empower our students, educators, and families with the knowledge and skills necessary to recognize and respond to the warning signs,” said Anthony Cordeiro, Superintendent of Education with responsibility for Safe Schools for the Halton Catholic District School Board. “This information session is a critical step in our ongoing commitment to foster safe school communities.”
“We strive to inform and equip the Halton community with tools and resources to combat human trafficking. Through events like this, we hope to build awareness and foster a resilient community.” – Halton Collaborative Against Human Trafficking (HCAHT)
 By Staff
January 26th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
This appeared in Burlington Together, a Facebook page that helps people looking fr information and help solving problems. It is a friendly place – the focus is on the Together.
This bird house us a delight – all that colour.
I’d like to see a picture with birds enjoying a snack.
 Will the birds use it?
By Staff
January 26th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
The CBC’s hit television show DRAGONS’ DEN is hosting open auditions in Toronto, looking for the next big ‘thing’ in Canadian business!
 Entrepreneurs from across the country have a fresh chance to enter DRAGONS’ DEN in a bid to score some high-powered financial backing for their business ventures.
DRAGONS’ DEN gives aspiring entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch their businesses to a panel of wealthy Canadian business moguls – the Dragons. Successful pitchers will have a chance to earn real investment – from the Dragons’ own pockets!
OPEN AUDITIONS
CBC Toronto (25 John St.)
Saturday, February 10, 2024 | 10am – 5pm
Interested applicants can apply here: http://www.cbc.ca/dragonsden/auditions
On Thursday February 8th, they will be hosting Dragons’ Den market. This is a chance to meet entrepreneurs who have previously been on the show.
 By Staff
January 26th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Thousands of people are amateur photographers – when your cell phone is a camera it is so easy to capture an image.
For some, and Terry Wilson, an administrative assistant at the Region of Halton is one of these people with a passion for photography. She is excited about winning her first photo contest.
The Bronte BIA asked area residents to submit photographs taken over a three day period.
This is what she submitted:
Wilson has a good eye. Nice composition
By Staff
January 25th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
This is going to be an offer hard to take a pass on.
The Beer Store is pleased to announce the launch of its partnership with DoorDash Canada.
 DoorDash’s leading on-demand delivery service will serve customers across Ontario from over 280 store locations. This partnership will serve as another great convenience channel for Beer Store customers across the province, providing great value on cold beer every day.
“Our goal is to provide customers with more access to our products, serve their occasions, and deliver products to their door on time,” said Roy Benin, President & CEO of The Beer Store. “The Beer Store is the most convenient place to buy beer in Ontario, offering great value on a wide selection of beers available.”
In the last few years, The Beer Store has expanded delivery across the province, allowing customers access to pack sizes and menu offerings exclusively found at The Beer Store. Through this partnership, customers can access all pack sizes carried by TBS, such as singles, 12s and 24s, and a wide assortment of beer flavours, types, and styles through the DoorDash app or website.
 The Beer Store successfully launched with 50 stores on DoorDash in December, delivering beer to customers throughout the holiday season. Expanding its reach, TBS has since added over 230 more locations earlier this month.
“We’re thrilled to partner with The Beer Store, providing Ontarians with the ease of having their favourite local and international beers delivered straight to their doorstep,” said Shilpa Arora, General Manager at DoorDash Canada. “This service not only enhances convenience in Ontario but also underscores our commitment to responsibility through industry-leading safety features in alcohol delivery.”
To celebrate the launch, a $0 delivery fee promotion will be available to customers from Jan 22 to Feb 8, with no order minimum required.*
Embracing social responsibility as a shared core value, both The Beer Store and DoorDash prioritize safe alcohol delivery. Dashers in Ontario are Smart Serve-certified, ensuring responsible alcohol delivery to customers aged 19 and over in accordance with the AGCO’s guidelines. For instance, Dashers are prompted to cancel an alcohol delivery if the recipient fails to produce a valid ID, appears intoxicated, or attempts to purchase for a minor.
To learn more about The Beer Store’s hours or ways of shopping online, please visit our website at www.thebeerstore.ca.
We are checking on the delivery prices after the free delivery period.
By Pepper Parr
January 25th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
It certainly is a photo op that we are proud to publish.
On January 23, 2024, Karina Gould welcomed her daughter Taya.
 Taya “Welcome, Taya! Alberto, Oliver, and I are overjoyed to introduce the newest member of our family. She arrived January 23rd. I am grateful to say that both baby and I are happy and healthy.
“I can’t say thank you enough to the amazing Burlington & Area Midwives, Lucia, Erica and Rachel, who ensured a safe pregnancy and delivery. As well as the nursing team at the maternal and child health unit at Joseph Brant Hospital. We are so fortunate to have such outstanding people working in our health teams in Burlington.
“I will be spending the next little while with my family but look forward to resuming my duties as Leader of the Government in the House of Commons in August.
“I will continue my work, on a reduced schedule, as the Member of Parliament for Burlington, serving my constituents and working remotely to vote in the House and participate in caucus and cabinet meetings. My constituency office remains open and operating like normal to serve constituents.
“Thank you to all who have sent kind words and good wishes throughout my pregnancy and the arrival of my new baby.“
 By Pepper Parr
January 25th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Progress – I guess.
Those washrooms in the John Street Transit Terminal – the ones the public no longer has access to?
We reached out to the ward Councillor – Lisa Kearns. She doesn’t want to talk to us – said we wrote something she didn’t like.
We then got in touch with the city communications department and asked them why there was no public access to what were public washrooms in a public building.
 That plastic door with the barrier tape would have required a work order to authorize the installation. Who asked for that door to be put in place? It took two days to get a response. I sent the communications specialist the questions I had and waited. She got back to me and said she needed more time – there was some confusion is as to just how much time they needed.
But today – Thursday before 2:00 pm there has been no response from the city communications people.
Jimmy Sissons, the person who asked us to look into why the washrooms were closed to the public, bumped into City Manager Tim Commisso who said he was aware of the problem, had read the story in the Gazette and would look into it.
There it stands.
We want to know who made the decision to make what were public washrooms – For Staff Only?
What authority did they have to make that decision?
A plastic door leading to the washrooms area was installed. That kind of work doesn’t get done without a work order being issued – so there is a paper trail
I don’t think they really want to tell us – they are now looking for a way to get the story behind them – and ideally make what were public washrooms fully public again.
The latest from the Communications people:
Exxx was covering for me while I was out of the office. I’m back so I’ve picked this up.
The best person to answer your questions is out of the office until Monday. I will connect with her to try to get you the information you’re looking for.
It’s called accountability people.
Related news story:
How do things like this happen?
 By Pepper Parr
January 25th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
Five hockey players who were part of Team Canada’s 2018 squad that won gold at the world junior hockey championship have been invited to the London, Ontario police station where they will be arrested and charged with criminal offences.
It will be more than the five men before the Courts when the trials take place. A public that has tolerated the behaviour that took place in 2018 will also be on trial. There will be all kinds of media coverage.
 It appears that it is going to take a painful trial that could destroy the lives of five fine athletes to bring an end to sexual violence, A large part of society has been prepared to put up with sexual assault and intimate partner violence. However we have, hopefully, arrived at the point where a tough criminal trial will give this practice the attention it needs and hopefully get to the point where behaviours change
A Halton Regional Police Deputy Chief told Burlington City Council during a virtual Council meeting that whenever he writes in his blog about sexual assault and intimate partner abuse his readership drops,
People know these things happen – but far too many people take the “boys will be boys” attitude or “she must have done something”.
The London Police have said they will hold a news conference in early February about their investigation.
“We understand that there is significant public interest in relation to a sexual assault investigation dating back to 2018,” They got that right.
The five hockey players have known for some time that there was likely to be a day of reckoning. Their actual arrest, finger printing and mug shots being taken will be the first painful steps,
When the matter first came to public attention Hockey Canada blew the credibility they had right out of the water when they used funds that came from fees families paid for their children to play hockey in leagues across the country as a piggy bank to pay a 3.2 million dollar settlement to the victim who felt she could engage in consensual sex with one hockey player but not the other hockey players were brought into the hotel room during what was clearly a raucous event that became a “Debbie does Dallas” evening.
 After a lot of bobbing and weaving by the Hockey Canada Board to avoid going public, solid newspaper investigative journalism brought the facts to the surface.
The federal government put a freeze on their funding; major sponsors withdrew their financial support.
It was messy, eventually the Hockey Canada Board was replaced and the London police, who had stopped investigating, took another look
Hopefully the trial will be another step in getting to the point where sexual assault and intimate partner violence are not acceptable and will not be tolerated. Those who perpetrate this kind of behaviour will get the professional help they need to change their behaviour,
And if that doesn’t work then put them in jail again and again and again if that is what it takes.
Intimate partner violence is hidden because many people are just not prepared to talk about it – to approach someone and ask if they need help and if necessary talk to the police isn’t the way thew public behaves. You are expected to mind your own business.
The Halton Region Police Service has a top notch team that know how to handle these situations. They are there to help.
Pascale St-Onge, the minister of Canadian Heritage, the level of government that oversees sports, said she was happy to see the case progress.
“It’s very satisfying to see that the case continues to evolve,” said St-Onge. “We’ve been all waiting for a long time to hear about the consequences and what the next steps are. So we’re going to follow what’s happening in court and with the police and the ongoing investigations.
“But I think it’s a strong message also to send to the victims of sexual violence that it’s worth pushing forward and coming forward. And I again, want to salute the courage of the person who came forward.”
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
By Pepper Parr
January 25th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
If I were a local artist – I would be ticked at this notice. Less than ten days to put together an application that offers $20,000 for the first phase of a Call for Artists and $150,000 for the second phase.
And if I were a citizen who kept an eye on what the City administration does I’d be less than pleased to learn that there will be public art in the renovation/upgrade to Civic Square that the public has not heard about.
Here is what the Call for Artists is about,
 A rendering of what Civic Square is today. Request for Expressions of Interest, Public Art Plan (Phase 1), Civic Square Renewal
Deadline: Friday, February 2, 2024
Phase 1 Budget: $20,000
Phase 2 Budget: $150,000
Application Package: Civic Square Application Package (PDF)
Online Application: Civic Square Public Art Plan Online Application Form
 The yellow borders are instructive. The yellow box right centre is the new 400 Brant Kitchen and Bar which is not part of the Civic Square renew.. The push into part of James Street is where there is supposed to be public art in front of each building on the north and south sides of James Street. The City of Burlington invites professional artists and artist-led teams to submit credentials and expressions of interest to create a Public Art Plan for the Civic Square Renewal project. The selected artist(s) will work directly with the City’s design and architecture teams to develop a Public Art Plan for integrated, permanent public artwork(s) to be installed in Civic Square. Please note, Phase 1 of this project is for a Public Art Plan (preliminary design concept) only and does not include the engineering, fabrication, or installation of the artwork.
By Pepper Parr
January 25th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
He could have been one of the best city managers Burlington ever had but after two attempts to land the job Scott Stewart accepted the job of CAO for the City of Guelph.
In an announcement to Guelph Staff today he said:
 Scott Stewart to retire as City of Guelph CAO. He would have been the best city manager Burlington would ever have if they had hired him. “Later today, I will formally announce that, after 38 fulfilling years as a civil servant – and nine years with the City of Guelph! – I plan to retire this summer. I’m looking forward to completing my five-year term as CAO, and my last day with the City will be on July 22, 2024.
“This announcement will go out in a news release shortly; it was important that you heard the news directly from me. There will be more to come in the months ahead about transition planning and the recruitment process for our next CAO, so I’ll be sure to share more detailed information about the next steps with you as they come.
“It’s going to take me a little while to find the words to properly express how much my time with the City of Guelph has meant to me, both personally and professionally, so I’ll save that sappy stuff for closer to my last day.
“For now, though, I’ll leave you with this:
“Serving as CAO, and working with all of you, has been the highlight of my career. While I’m excited for this next chapter of my life, I know I’ll miss being a part of this organization, and I look forward to cheering you all on from the sidelines.”
As we get closer to the day he turns in his parking spot we will reminisce about Scott Stewart and his days as a municipal bureaucrat.
 By Staff
January 24th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
 Water levels in watershed creeks will rise significantly during the weekend. Caution around the edges of creeks – especially with children. Snow eventually melts and that water works its way south through the creeks and ravines of the city.
Conservation Halton has issued a media release – it follows.
Conservation Halton advises that Environment Canada and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry’s (MNRF) Surface Water Monitoring Centre (SWMC) are forecasting up to 25mm of rain starting today into Friday afternoon. Daytime high temperatures around 5°C are also expected over the same period. In addition to the forecasted rainfall, melting snow and frozen ground conditions will increase runoff and contribute to elevated water levels in rivers and streams within our jurisdiction.
Widespread flooding is not anticipated, however, fast flowing water and flooding of low-lying areas, natural floodplains, and areas with poor drainage may be expected, along with localized ice break-up.
 Conservation Halton is asking all residents and children to keep a safe distance from all watercourses and structures such as bridges, culverts, and dams. Any ice-covered bodies of water are considered unsafe. Elevated water levels, fast flowing water, and cold water temperatures, combined with slippery conditions along stream banks continue to make these locations extremely dangerous. Please alert children in your care of these imminent dangers.
 Grindstone Creek further west is also part of the watershed network that is constantly monitored. Conservation Halton will continue to monitor stream and weather conditions and will issue an update to this Watershed Conditions Statement – Water Safety message as conditions warrant.
This Watershed Conditions Statement – Water Safety will be in effect through Saturday January 27, 2024.
For further information or questions regarding this message contact:
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