By Staff

April 2^nd, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

For those who have family who are dealing with Parkinson’s disease – every day is a hard day with brief bits of gratitude for the help that is available.

The Passion for Parkinson’s Foundation will be hosting community events throughout April as part of their efforts to raise awareness and promote ways to make lives better.

On April 11, many cities across the country are joining the foundation`s second annual Light Up Canada for World Parkinson’s Day campaign. Cities will light up their buildings, bridges, towers and waterfalls in blue to acknowledge this important day. Some of the landmarks include Mississauga City Hall, Port Credit Lighthouse, the CN Tower, Niagara Falls, the Peace Bridge, Montreal’s Olympic Stadium and Vancouver’s BC Place.  The Burlington Pier will be part of this.

“Since May 2021, we have grown significantly from a small grassroots organization with two outdoor exercise classes, to a booming charitable organization with eleven weekly programs,“ said Tamara Boaden, chair of the Passion for Parkinson’s Foundation.

“Our participants really enjoy our boxing, cycle fit, indoor virtual golf, mindful movement, pickleball, and tai chi classes. Caregiver group meetings, support groups and a speaker`s series hosted by PD experts have been meaningful.

Collaborating with Rama Gaming House Mississauga and the Mississauga Charity Gaming Association this past year has also helped  to raise much needed funds. The foundation is looking forward to its signature gala event on April 20 hosted by CHFI’s Michelle Butterly, celebrating our success with the Parkinson`s community, and expressing gratitude with partners, sponsors, donors and volunteers.“

Research shows that various forms of exercise or art can improve gait, balance, tremor, flex-ability, grip strength, cognition and overall motor coordination and sense of well-being. Improved mobility decreases the risks of falls and can help people with PD manage other related complications.

According to a recent Ipsos study, 73 percent of all Canadians living with Parkinson’s rate regular exercise as the service most important to them.

The Passion for Parkinson’s Foundation sources, implements and funds essential arts and exercise programs specifically tailored to address the needs of people living with PD in Halton-Peel. The foundation aligns with community partners and certified instructors, and delivers free arts and exercise programs that help manage the physical, cognitive and social conditions associated with PD.

For more information about the foundation and its programs and events, visit https://passionforparkinsons.org, or connect on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/passionforparkinson or Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/passionforparkinsonsfoundation

By Staff

April 1^st, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

Wednesday is garbage but Monday was a holiday – does that change my schedule?

It can get confusing at times.

The Regional government has a personalized online waste collection calendar that has everything you need to manage your household waste.

All they need is your address and they will send you a printed calendar or put you on a list that tell you by email what you can put out – and when.

Get connected click HERE

By Staff

April 1^st, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

The Burlington library declares that sung or slammed, written or recited, poetry declares who we are, how we feel, and what we think, dream, and aspire to be.

They are inviting you to immerse yourself in the power of words at the 3rd annual Burlington Lyrics & Poetry Festival!

National Poetry Month salutes poems and poets, songs and songwriters with an exciting schedule of performances, workshops, and activities for all ages.

Register HERE for the event.  Some events are already filled.

By Pepper Parr

March 30th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

OPINION

The following is from the April newsletter sent out by the ward Councillor just yesterday.

With a majority of the City Councillors in open revolt – challenging the Mayor on her use of the Strong Mayor powers that were declared by the Premier of the province on July 1st of last years Councillor Sharman starts his newsletter with:

With the changing of the seasons comes a renewed sense of energy and possibility. Happy Easter and Ramadan Mubarak to all of those celebrating.

As we step into April, we prepare to celebrate Earth Day- a time to reflect on our impact on the planet and take meaningful steps toward a greener future. Let us unite in preserving our environment for generations to come, through sustainable practices and conscious living.

April also marks Daffodil Month, a time to honour and support those affected by cancer. Like the resilient daffodil, we stand in solidarity with those facing this challenge, offering hope, strength and unwavering support to our community members.

In the spirit of growth and vitality, we are thrilled to welcome 3 new restaurants to our Ward 5 community. Each establishment brings its own unique flavours, offering our community more exciting dining options to explore and enjoy. Congratulations, Mighty Bird, Poke Works and Bombay Frankies.

The good news is that the Skyway Community Centre is on target – not under budget – the federal government took a pass on providing the badly needed financial support

We are making progress with the new Skway Arena and Community Centre as we look forward to opening it to the public later this year. Also, work on renovating the former Robert Bateman High school, which is now to be called the Robert Bateman Community Centre.

As always, please feel free to contact me directly by email at paul.sharman@burlington.ca or leave a message at 905-335-7600 ext. 7591. Should you wish to meet in person, please email ward5@burlington.ca to schedule an appointment.

For city service requests such as tree pruning, road safety, street maintenance, etc., please email city@burlington.ca for immediate attention.

Unaware

You ain’t seen nothing yet

Is there a problem here that needs my serious attention.

Below, you will find some key information and we warmly encourage you to reach out, ask questions, and connect with us. As always, if you see me out and about, please say hi!

Should you bump into Councillor ask him what he is smoking?

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 Jan Vrbik.

March 30^th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

The rarity of a total solar eclipse, set to take place over Niagara and select areas across North America April 8, can be better understood by breaking down the math and science involved, says a Brock University expert.

The celestial phenomenon, in which the moon completely blocks the sun and turns the daytime sky dark enough to see stars for several minutes, will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many who witness it next month.

Jan Vrbik, a Professor of Mathematics who studies the movement of the sun, planets and moons, says there are four factors that make witnessing a total solar eclipse quite rare.

Path of the eclipse through North America

The distances of the sun and moon from the Earth

Even though the sun is 400 times larger than the moon, when we look at them in the sky, they appear to be practically the same size. This is because their distances from Earth are roughly in the same 400 to one ratio.

It’s why the moon can obscure the sun, either partially or fully, to create a solar eclipse.

The tilt of the moon’s orbit

The moon’s orbit around the Earth is not a perfect circle — it’s an ellipse — so the distance of the moon from Earth fluctuates depending on where it is along its orbit.

It varies by 11 per cent each month, which implies that the moon’s disk also fluctuates in size compared to the sun.

About 35 per cent of the time, the moon’s disk is bigger than the sun’s disk, and the other 65 per cent of the time, it’s the reverse.

The intersection of the sun and moon’s orbits

The Earth orbits the sun once a year, while the moon circles the Earth once a month. If the sun and moon’s orbits were on the same plane, an eclipse would happen every month, but the moon’s orbit is tilted by about five degrees from the sun’s orbit.

This means that at most new moons, the moon is either visibly higher or lower in the sky than the sun.  Nevertheless, the moon needs to cross the plane of the sun’s orbit twice during its monthly cycle, at an intersection called a ‘node.’ Eclipses happen only when, during a new moon, the sun’s direction is closely aligned with one of these nodes, which happens regularly twice a year.

He says 23 per cent of solar eclipses are ‘total,’ when the moon fully covers the sun, and 42 per cent are ‘annular,’ when the moon’s disk is smaller than the sun’s disk and a ‘ring of fire’ is seen.

Thirty-five per cent of solar eclipses run so much off the Earth’s centre that only a partial eclipse is observed on one side of the globe — with the actual path of totality missing the Earth entirely.

Path of the eclipse as it enters and leaves North America

The moon’s shadow along the path of totality

For both an annular and total solar eclipse, the moon’s shadow needs to cross the Earth’s surface.

The size of the moon’s shadow varies depending on how close in time the event is to when the moon is at its closest to Earth. Typically, the shadow is 150 kilometres (km) in a circular area. A much larger part of the Earth’s surface, about 7,000 kms across, will at the same time experience a partial eclipse, in which only a part of the sun’s disk is covered by the moon.

The shadow’s path across the globe is a combination of the moon’s straight-line motion of about one km per second and the Earth’s rotation of close to 0.5 km per second, complicated more by the fact that the Earth’s axis is tilted.

If people are in the right place at the right time, they can witness a total solar eclipse for three to four minutes.

Adding it all up

 When one considers the movement of the sun, the Earth and the moon, as well as their orbits, speed, distance and alignment from each other, it is easier to understand why a total solar eclipse is so rare.

While a total solar eclipse occurs on Earth every 18 months, it usually occurs over water. The last time a total solar eclipse occurred over Ontario was in 1979. The next one won’t happen again over the province until 2099.

If you know the length of each celestial body’s cycle, you can easily predict when an eclipse will happen again. Experiencing a total solar eclipse from a specific location is a rare privilege, typically separated from the next such occurrence by several centuries.

Vrbik will be among a group of Brock experts leading discussions and educational exhibits around the solar eclipse during ‘Eclipse on the Escarpment,’ a free community event being held on Brock’s main campus Monday, April 8.

By James Portside

March 28th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

The province of Ontario released the 2023 Sunshine list; the document that sets all those who earned more than $100,000 in the year 2023.

In 2023 Burlington’s operating budget was $314.3 million dollars and the capital budget was $72.6 million dollars.  Salaries come out of the Operating budget

The number of people working for the city and making over $100,000 per year increased by 16%. The 2022 list contained 393 names, the 2023 list contains 457 names.

Of the roughly 850 full time employees 458 people now earn over $100,000 per year. I’m wondering what the politically correct version of “too many chiefs and not enough Indians” is.

The 2023 list includes nine people with the job title “Transit Operator”, four people with the job title “Mechanic” and one person with the title “Officer, Animal Control”.

Of the people we elect to manage our tax dollars the one person with the job title “Mayor” earned $202,712.10 after a 5.79% raise and the six people with the job title “Councillor” each had an average income of $119,802.70 after a 6.28% increase.

A total of 84 people, outside of the fire department, received raises of more than 10%. Only 16 of these people had changes in their job titles.

Our city manager, who has resigned, received a 9.67% increase.

In first place is Emilie Cote as our “Director, Recreation, Community and Culture”. Emilie received a 37.34% salary increase in 2023.

In second place is Kevin Schustyk. Kevin is our “Senior Traffic Signal Technician” and received a 31.77% increase. Someone should tell Kevin that the traffic lights have yet to be  synchronized.

Rounding out the trifecta is Brynn Nheiley with a 28.58% increase bringing Brynn’s salary to $215,826.  (More than the Mayor) As reported in the Burlington Gazette, Brynn recently left the city and, assuming there is a severance package, the package will be based on the $215,826 salary. Brynn left the City of Hamilton and started working for Burlington in March of 2019. Brynn first appears on the sunshine list in 2020 meaning her salary moved from less than $100,000 in 2019 to $215,826 in 2023.

Meanwhile the number of taxpayers unable to pay their property taxes increase to 2.9% in 2023. The highest level in the past six years.

Obviously, all is well at city hall. After pushing through a 15.5% increase to property tax revenue in 2023, with almost no population growth staff have been richly rewarded.  Our mayor likes to call the 15.5% increase a 7.5% impact on our total tax bill but the reality is the city receives 15.5% more revenue from taxpayers in 2023 and, based on the sunshine list, they know how to spend the money.

Jim has lived in Burlington for much of his life and has watched the city change and grow over the years. With over 1,000 people working for the city there is a lot going on. As a now retired, successful business owner, Jim is interested in exploring and sharing some of what our local government is working on. You can reach Jim by emailing Jim.Portside@gmail.com

By Ray Rivers

March 28^th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

There are always some things to like and hate in a budget.   For example announcing a new much needed medical college is welcome.  However it is hard to grasp all of the good things, given the enormity and redundancy of the budget document.  Clearly it was written by a committee and, from all the partisan propaganda, was overseen by a politico.

Perhaps the best reason to read a budget is the snap shot of the state of the province it provides.   And the state of Ontario is not in a good place..  By almost every measure, Ontario residents are worse off economically today than they were six years ago under the Wynne Liberal government. 

Premier Ford and Peter Bethlenfalvy, Minister of Finance – A couple of sports touting a budget that

Economic growth has faltered, dropping from last year’s unspectacular 1.2% to a miserable forecasted 0.3% in 2024.  By contrast, six years ago under the Wynne government, our economy was ticking along at over two percent.   The consequence of a stalling economy is an increase in jobless numbers.   Unemployment is expected to climb to over 6% this year and likely will only get worse after that.  Six years ago the jobless rate was 5.6%, about the national average, not trailing it as we are today.

It’s only been a year since the pandemic ended, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that the economic indicators last year were better than today.   And, though COVID forced a partial economic shut down, most of the money needed to support people during the pandemic came from the federal government, not Ontario.

Perhaps the most striking example of Mr. Ford’s challenges in managing the economy are seen by the growth in Ontario’s debt level.  Mr. Ford came into the 2018 election, guns a-blazing, bragging about how he alone could wrestle the province’s budgetary deficit into the ground.  So what happened? The province’s deficit for the last full budget year in 2017/18 was $3.7 billion but today’s budget tells us it will soar to a staggering $9.8 billion this year.

Meanwhile Ontario’s debt is rocketing on a pathway to land at close to a half trillion somewhere after the next provincial election.  So much for all those crocodile tears the Tories were offering about saddling our children, and theirs, with all that debt.   Ford’s contribution to that debt burden is heading towards $100 billion over those last six years – going from something like $324 billion to well over $400 billion today.

It’s true Ford is throwing away a billion or so every year since he killed the provincial carbon emissions trading program.  And he blew millions terminating all emerging renewable energy production projects in Ontario.  He spilled even more millions trying to fight the feds on carbon pricing: between the legal proceedings, the gas pump stickers and all those propaganda advertisements.  As a last desperate measure the premier tried to undercut the carbon tax by slashing the provincial gas road tax, and in the process deprived the treasury of millions of dollars to fund highway maintenance and construction.

Of course no one should forget those Tory-blue licence plates which couldn’t even be read.  Then, having failed those developers wanting to gobble up the greenbelt, he is now plowing taxpayer dollars into this 413 highway that virtually no one will use for decades.  But it will profit those developers holding land on the highway route.  And there is the matter of the six billion dollars to compensate health care and other workers affected by his putative salary freeze in the lead-up to the COVID crisis.

The sign says it all

The hallmark policy that ended 15 years of Liberal governance of the province was electricity.  The provincial auditor general had unleashed a storm of criticism with a series of largely hypothetical calculations damning Ontario’s renewable energy program, and all but sealing Kathleen Wynne’s future.  Doug Ford came into power promising to bring down the high cost of electricity.  But all he has done is add more subsidies to the program and run up more debt than ever.  Oh and he has increased our carbon footprint by adding more gas generation to make up for all the renewable facilities he cancelled.

The results are that even though consumer costs for electrical energy have continued to climb at about 2% a year, the consumer subsidy has increased more than four fold, from $1.6 billion when he came to power to over $7 billion dollars in the 2024 budget.  Ontario has become a socialist state when it comes to electrical power, even though it is governed by the most right wing idealist since Mike Harris.

This 2024 budget is not a good news document.  And there is only one word for how we got here: incompetence.  Doug Ford is a very persuasive and eloquent populist.  But when it comes to management, he clearly prefers sleeping at the switch – or riding his snowmobile as he was doing when Ottawa was under attack by a convoy of misfits claiming to represent the trucking industry a few years ago.

This 2024 budget symbolizes how far downhill this province has fallen since we elected a mostly jovial but misguided ideologue with little knowledge about the job he was assuming as its premier.  The good news is that there are replacements waiting to take his place.  The bad news is that replacement is unlikely to happen for another two years.

Ray Rivers, a Gazette Contributing Editor, writes regularly applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking.  Rivers was once a candidate for provincial office in Burlington.  He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject.   Ray has a post graduate degree in economics that he earned at the University of Ottawa.  Tweet @rayzrivers

Background Links

Budget document –      Unemployment –    Deficit Triples –     Electricity rates –

Subsidizing Hydro –      Debt History –     Carefree Spending –

By Staff

March 27th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

After deciding that the sports field at the rear of the Robert Bateman Community Centre will be replaced with some parking space, the city announces that they have begun phase 1 of the outdoor engagement on the greenspace.

The outdoor engagement includes a redesign of Frontenac Park. An online survey is open now at getinvolvedburlington.ca/bateman until the end of April.

Residents can also join an in-person visioning session at Tansley Woods Community Centre (1996 Itabashi Way) on April 17 from 7 to 9 p.m. or an online visioning session on April 25 from 7 to 9 p.m. To register for a session, visit getinvolvedburlington.ca/bateman.

The primary question participants will be asked is, “How would you like to use the greenspace?”

Participants will be able to provide feedback on the redevelopment of this outdoor greenspace including essential paved pathway connections throughout the site to the adjacent school and new Community Centre Entrance.

The rendering was provided on a For illustration purposes only.

The information collected will be reviewed by staff to help determine what can and cannot be done in the space and create concepts. Factors that will also determine concepts will be popularity, cost, noise/disruption to neighbours, regulations and technical feasibility.

Park features that cannot go into the greenspace include full-sized sport fields, sport field lighting, pickleball courts, basketball courts, splash pad and an outdoor pool.

By Staff

March 27th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

Good Morning. I’m Gary Scobie and I appreciate the opportunity to delegate to Council on this important motion.

It is now obvious to me and many other citizens that we should have paid more attention to what was being offered to our Mayor and why.

Living in a democratic country, citizens often take democracy as a given, as something no one would or should take away from us or the people who represent us in government. When the Strong Mayor Powers were offered to many municipalities of mid-range populations in Ontario last summer, most citizens of Burlington put our trust in our local Council to weigh the pros and cons of accepting these powers.  We weren’t all sure what these powers entailed and when our Council unanimously approved the Strong Mayor Powers I think I speak for many citizens that we assumed the details had been competently vetted by all Council members and there was unanimous consent that they were useful to have in certain situations and not particularly dangerous to democracy and the rule of the majority.

Scobie: “This is the time to take a stand for democracy in our City”

It is now obvious to me and many other citizens that we should have paid more attention to what was being offered to our Mayor and why. The coverage at the time seemed to centre on the Provincial desire to speed up the building of homes in cities and towns.

It is now also obvious that this Council has experienced these Powers in action for seven months and that the majority of Council now has grave doubts as to the efficacy, effectiveness and use of some Powers. Three Councilors have brought a motion today to Council titled “Improving Local Democracy by Strengthening City Decision-Making”  with support from a fourth Councilor, thus a majority.

The details of the Powers that can be delegated back to Council by the Mayor are in the Motion. The request is simple:  Restore these powers to the Council as a whole in order to preserve total Council consideration of matters that should be under its jurisdiction, not concentrated in one person only, the Mayor of Burlington.  A dangerous precedent has been set in the broadness of the Strong Mayor Powers in a municipality.  Some of the Powers can be delegated by the Mayor back to the Council and Mayors in some of the other municipalities with these Powers have already done so, fearing the same over-step of democracy that can lead to dark places now and darker places in the future.  With democracy in many places and levels in Canada and the world under siege, this is the time to take a stand for democracy in our City and within our Province and country.  It is not the time to strengthen autocracy.

Our Council is at a fracture point, early in the second year of a four year term of office. This fracture cannot be allowed to become a total break.  It must be repaired carefully so that citizens can have confidence in our representatives going forward, and it must be done today.

I am here to show there is indeed citizen support for this motion and implore our elected representatives to debate this issue today and pass this motion unanimously. Once passed, I ask our Mayor to graciously agree to the restoration of the rights to Council for this term of office.  Anything short of that will only lead to a breakdown of faith in our Council by the citizens of Burlington.

By Staff

March 26th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

I welcome any conversation about democracy, governance and how council can continue to work together in a collaborative and consultative way.

Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward

I welcome Council to make any requests of me they feel are important, and support Council in making this request. That is why I voted in favour of the motion that was approved unanimously by Council today. I will take the time to give it the thoughtful consideration it deserves. Council has requested I respond by the April 16 Council meeting, which I will do.

It is truly unfortunate there has been misinformation, speculation, rumour and fear mongering out in the community. I will do my best to focus on the facts — what has changed and what hasn’t.

Council was briefed on the new powers, including the ability to delegate some of them. We have been governing together in this new context for eight months now.

Council still advances the business of the city by motion and majority vote. That hasn’t changed. You will see that at every committee and council meeting. Our democratic process remains strong — in fact, this year to date, Council has unanimously approved 61 motions at our meetings including this one today.

Transparency and accountability haven’t changed. All Mayoral Decisions are posted on the city’s website – that is required by legislation. Please read them to see what has been done, not what rumour, speculation or implication would suggest. There have been 17 in total, to date — the majority of which were required to approve decisions made at Council. This will continue to be required, so you will continue to see these. Here is the full list:

• • • To appoint a City Manager (Council was included in the process);
    • To approve bylaws at the 12, 2023 Council (actions council’s decisions);
    • Confidential 9;
    • To approve bylaws at the 16, 2023 Council (actions council’s decisions);
    • To approve bylaws at the 12, 2023 Council (actions council’s decisions);
    • To shorten the 10-day period for Mayoral Veto of amendments to the budget (there was no veto exercised; budget approved by council);
    • To approve bylaws at the 28, 2023 Council (actions council’s decisions);
    • To approve bylaws at the 14, 2023 Council (actions council’s decisions);
    • To approve bylaws at the 2, 2023 Council (action’s council’s decisions);
    • To establish standing committee chairs;
    • To establish committee structure options (voted on by council);
    • To approve bylaws at the Oct 17, 2023 Council (actions council’s decisions);
    • To approve bylaws at the 5, 2023 Council (actions council’s decisions);
    • To approve bylaws at the 26, 2023 Council (actions council’s decisions);
    • Direction to draft the 2024 Budget (required under provincial legislation);
    • To approve bylaws at the 14, 2023 Council (actions council’s decisions); and
    • To approve bylaws at the July 11, 2023 Council (action’s council’s decisions).

City Hall’s structure hasn’t changed. The City Manager is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the city, by bylaw. Staff report to the City Manager, and the City Manager reports through committee and council.

The Mayor has always had unique roles and responsibilities under the Municipal Act, even before the new legislation. The Mayor is the “Head of Council” and “CEO” of the corporation, and the only one elected across the city. That hasn’t changed.

The recent legislation assigns additional responsibilities and duties exclusively to the Mayor. This represents a change from what we are used to.

Some of these can be delegated. It has struck me as being politically performative to delegate, as these can also be undelegated at any time. It seems to me to be more transparent and accountable to openly acknowledge the powers and duties are there and determine how we will continue to govern in a collaborative, democratic way in this new context. I believe Council has been doing that over the past 8 months in this new context, and I have no concerns we will continue to do that.

Most of these new duties cannot be delegated. They are not optional, nor was there an ability to “opt out.” Municipalities who accepted a housing pledge – that Burlington Council unanimously did in March 2023 – got them in July 2023. We accepted the pledge for all the right reasons; we did not know the Province’s strong mayor powers would be tied to the pledge. You can read my statement on the legislation when it was first introduced here: Statement from Burlington Mayor Meed Ward on Province Expanding Strong Mayor Powers to Additional Municipalities.

Each Mayor has responded based on their determination of what’s best for their community, some have delegated all, some none, and some partial, but in doing so provided additional guidelines. I will take the time to be equally thoughtful.

Though some duties can be offloaded by delegation, accountability cannot be offloaded.

I am accountable to the city and the people of Burlington to fulfill the roles assigned to me. We all are accountable – not just every four years at the ballot box, but every single day we hold these roles. Our community will be the judge of how we work together to fulfill our responsibilities in this new context.

My track record of collaboration is clear, and my focus remains on serving in the best interests of our community – building a strong city together with a high quality of life for our residents for the next seven generations.

Related news story:

Mayor stiffs her Council again.