It has been a busy fall for the Admin Team at Millcroft Against Bad Development. An update on their activities and what they think can be done to assist in stopping this development.
They have been working closely with our elected officials Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, Councillor Angelo Bentivegna, MPP Effie Triantafilopoulos and MPP Natalie Pierre.
In meeting the Premier back in September, he stated to the MAD team that he would reach out to our Mayor to work on this together, contact MPP Paul Calandra to get up to speed on our file and explore all options to preserve our green space.
Many in the community were resting their hope on convincing the Premier to issue an MZO – a Ministerial Zoning Order that could quash the decision issued by the Ontario Land Tribunal. There are reports that the Premier has already said he would not be issuing an MZO.
The Mayor and the MAD team are still waiting for a meeting with the Premier and are hopeful that this will take place in the near future now that the Legislature is back in session.
MAD points to their support across the Region
MAD continues to encourage everyone to send a letter in support of preserving our green space to Doug Ford
MAD is pleased to report that we now have over 14,100 signatures in support of saving our Burlington Green Space with well over 63% from residents outside of the Millcroft area. Our support is GTA wide with supporters from Hamilton, Oakville, Milton, Mississauga, Etobicoke, Vaughn and beyond.
Please forward this to your friends and family, help us achieve the new goal of 15,000 signatures!
They are at the over 14,100 signatures!
Members of the MAD Admin Team meet with Premier Ford
There are two options to do this which are as follows:
Option 1 – Quick and Easy
Go to our website and fill in your name and email and an email will be sent to the province on your behalf. Select the link below.Option 1 – Quick and Easy
At the opening of each Council meeting Mayor Meed Ward reads a statement:
Did Jim Thomson hear the Mayor? She didn’t say anything about T-shirts
“We ask folks not to engage in any behavior that may be considered disruptive, interrupting, shouting, clapping if you agree, booing, if you don’t. We want everyone to feel absolutely comfortable to say what they came to say, and not worry about whether they will be popular or unpopular in expressing those views. So we ask folks to just be respectful. We don’t permit indecent, offensive or insulting language or speaking disrespectfully about anyone or to anyone in council chambers that includes staff or other members of the public and certainly committee members.
An Open Letter to Minister of Education Jill Dunlop, MPP Ted Arnott, MPP Stephen Crawford, MPP Zee Hamid, MPP Effie Triantafilopoulos and MPP Natalie Pierre
For years, Halton Catholic teachers have watched the erosion of Ontario’s publicly funded education system play out in our classrooms.
School violence has increased, which is taking a physical and emotional toll on students and teachers alike.
Class sizes are too large for teachers to give students the individual attention and one-on-one support that they need.
Recent briefing documents produced by the Ford Conservative government warn of a future that Catholic teachers already see in our schools – a growing and direteacher recruitment and retention crisis.
Underpinning it all is the Ford government’s active choice to underfund education, which has happened each and every year since it was elected in 2018. We know these issues will only get worse if immediate changes are not made.
In our district, with less than $1 a day per student for basic school supplies, teachers are forced to ration essential classroom resources, like paper and pencils. Halton schools do not have enough physical textbooks for students to use in class, nor are there enough functioning computers for them to access the texts online.
We are forced to stretch ourselves thin, taking on multiple roles – becoming counsellors, behaviour specialists, and even administrators – on top of our primary teaching duties.
Catholic teachers want to do the job we love in a learning and working environment that helps students thrive and succeed. But we, along with teachers in classrooms across Ontario, cannot keep doing more with less.
Halton Catholic teachers are on the front lines of this crisis, and we live these issues alongside our students each and every day. We know what they need to succeed, which is why we are calling on your government to end the cuts and provide real and sustained investments in education. Our students deserve better.
Tara Hambly, President, OECTA Halton Secondary Unit
Vanessa Slee, President, OECTA Halton Elementary Unit
Burlington MPP Natalie Pierre has announced that she will not seek re-election in the next provincial election.
Natalie Pierre in the Provincial Legislature
“It has been an honour and a privilege to represent Burlington at Queen’s Park and to work with Premier Ford and the Ontario PC caucus to deliver results for my community,” Pierre said. “After careful consideration, I believe the time is right to step aside. My commitment to our community will not waiver and I will continue to work hard and serve the people of Burlington for the balance of my term.”
Known more for her photo ops than for anything substantial in the Legislature
Her decision to announce that she won’t seek re-election at this time allows the Ontario PC Party sufficient time to select a new candidate and prepare for the next general election.
The Ontario PC Party extends its gratitude to MPP Pierre for her dedication and service.
Natalie was known more for her photo-ops than for anything substantive done in the legislature.
When we first met her we thought we saw a sincere level of empathy and hoped that she would be a force for changes at the provincial level.
Her time as a politician is not something she will forget; a decent well-meaning individual in a world where decency isn’t a useful skill set.
Halton police said a Burlington senior received minor injuries when her vehicle was stolen as she loaded groceries Wednesday, Oct. 9. At about 10:42 a.m., the 80-year-old was in the parking lot of the No Frills on Brant Street and was loading groceries into her Mercedes sedan when a man approached, said Const. Jeff Dillon, Halton Police media officer.
It’s alleged the suspect got into the victim’s Mercedes and drove away. Dillon said the senior sustained minor injuries from falling as a result of the vehicle pulling away. The suspect is described as wearing black shoes, black pants, and a black sweater.
Car hijacked in broad daylight from the No Frills parking lot on Brant Street.
This is a very frightening incident. To have someone dart into your car and drive it away while you are loading groceries in the trunk in broad daylight shows that the thieves have become more brazen.
That long-awaited first version of the Mayor’s 2025 budget will be available on Friday, the 25th.
The document goes to a Council meeting on November 4th – which gives the public nine days to go over the document and get some sense as to what they might be facing in terms of a tax increase. It is reported to be at a pinch over 8%.
Last time we saw a budget with a significant increase 15% there were four very strong delegations – didn’t seem to make any difference. Two of the delegations heard Council say they would reach out and talk to them about some of the points made in their delegation. Both have reported that they haven’t heard a word.
This time around – it might be different.
BRAG – Burlington Residents’ Action Group has a team of people in place who have divided up their understanding of the different sections the budget will be broken into – their task is to do the deepest dive possible into the data and be in a position to delegate with data from the document.
The public has been told that the budget document will not be a 700 + pages and that the format will be quite different. The Gazette will report on what is delivered on Friday.
Burlington has never seen anything like this in the 12 years I have been covering this Council.
Members of the BRAG the incorporated not for profit group are of the view that the numbers in the budget are “baked in” – “there won’t be much oportunity to change anything – but we are still going to do our job.”
Others in the community have given up – one “doesn’t believe this Council is going to get even close to changing until it occurs to them that they may not get re-elected – and then they will scurry about like rats leaving a sinking ship looking for some high and dry space.”
There is a protocol in place that Council will be following in order to have the budget discussions completed and a bylaw in place before the end of the year.Oct. 25
Mayor’s Proposed Budget Report will be shared with the community and posted at GetInvolvedBurlington.ca/2025budget and on the Nov. 4 Committee of the Whole agenda
Marianne Meed Ward before she was elected Mayor
Nov. 4 – Burlington Committee of the Whole The Mayor, under Strong Mayors legislation, will present the 2025 proposed budget to Burlington City Council. City Council and the public will be given time to review the proposed budget and give the Mayor feedback. Delegates welcome. Register by noon the previous business day.
Nov. 7 – Budget Telephone Town Hall
Residents can join the call starting at 7 p.m. to ask questions about the 2025 proposed budget. The telephone town hall will be hosted by Mayor Meed Ward and run until 8:30 p.m. Visit Get Involved Burlington for details.
Nov. 18 and 21 – Budget Committee meetings
City Council amendments to the budget. Delegates welcome. Register by noon the previous business day.
Nov. 25 – Special Council Meeting
This meeting is for budget approval.
There is at least one member of Council who is not prepared to go along with what the Mayor is proposing. On Friday we will have a clearer idea on what she has in mind.
It was Thanksgiving Day and the folks at Millcroft Greenspace Alliance (MGA) said they were thankful and wanted to “show our gratitude to the Mayor and Council of the City of Burlington for their continued commitment to preserving the Millcroft stormwater green infrastructure from pending development.”
At the October 8th budget pre-consultation meeting a golfer asked, “What is happening at the Millcroft Golf Course?” The Mayor and Angelo Bentivegna, the ward councillor, spoke to the issue. According to Angelo, the Mayor is continuing to work on preserving the greenspace even after the Minister of Housing has denied the City’s two requests to stop the development.
This kind of flooding on the golf course lands is managed by the draining system that was put in place when the golf course was laid down.
The golf course was designed with a drainage system that handles flooding like this.
The audience was told that the “Mayor is now in discussions directly with the Premier.
Prior to this question, the Mayor’s presentation included a general comment that the City does have funds set aside to purchase property if it becomes available.
What makes these comments of serious concern to the Millcroft residents is that on October 15th, shortly after Council came out of a CLOSED meeting it was learned that the Premier had told the Mayor directly that there would not be an MZO issued. An MZO is a Ministerial Zoning order that could quash the decision made by the Ontario Land Tribunal.
Flood mitigation is also a concern of the City as they await the final tally of the cost of the July 2024 flood. A significant portion of the flood damage occurred downstream from Millcroft in Wards 4 and 5. The importance of flood abatement through absorption in the fairway channels becomes increasingly important as climate change progresses.
The Hon. Karina Gould MP understands the implications of the proposed development and has supported our recent letter to the Hon. Steven Guilbeaut MP, Minister of the Environment by forwarding a copy to Meteorological and Climate Change Canada. We have appealed to the federal government for funding for our City with regard to preserving the green infrastructure. In addition, we have again requested that the Minister apply moral suasion to the Premier of Ontario to do the right thing for our citizens. In the past, the Hon. Steven Guilbeault expressed his reluctance to provide disaster relief when the Province of Ontario allows development on floodplains. Although the Premier denied that this would happen, Millcroft is a specific example where the Province has turned a blind eye.
Nevertheless, MGA does the decent thing saying: “We would also like to thank all our donors who have assisted in reducing the outstanding legal bill from the Ontario Land Tribunal hearing. MGA was the only party to the hearing that provided expert testimony on the stormwater importance of this greenspace. In the event that flood damage does result from the development, the case has been presented. Our outstanding balance is approximately $2,500.”
The Millcroft community has done a superb job of raising funds within the community “to cover legal costs that amounted to$21,662.10 for all work including preparation for our initial submission to the Tribunal, the response to other submissions and the 17 day hearing. ”
MGA now has to cover the administrative costs incurred in the raising of funds.
The list of the people on that junket to Japan just keeps getting more and more interesting.
We learned this morning that the Citys’ Solicitor, Blake Hurley is also a part of the group that is representing Burlington in Japan
He joins, City CAO Hassaan Basit, the Mayor, Councillors Galbraith and Nisan plus people from the Mundialization Committee.
Would someone identify the three people on the right? We know who the two wearing casual clothing are: Councillors Galbraith and Nisan. The Mayor dressed appropriately – a welcome change. The event is, in a minor way, a diplomatic occasion that the Japanese understand. The Mayor has a member of her staff with some experience in diplomatic protocol – she should have briefed the Mayor
The Mayor is popping out short bursts of information on her Twitter platform.
One of the more recent:
This is ridiculous. Time spent wandering the streets of Itabashi and dropping in on a cat cafe!
Japan is 13 hours ahead of Burlington, so it’s already tomorrow for me. We did do some exploring including checking out some interesting architecture, like high rises with external staircases, and visiting a cat café! The Tokyo region has 37 million people – more than the entire population of Canada!
This is what taxpayer money is being used for?
We have some questions.
Who decides who goes on these junkets?
The Mundialization committee would decide who represents them. Hasan Raza, Chair of the Mundialization Committee, Marybeth Curtin, Chair of the Itabashi sub-committee – that makes sense.
Who decides who is going to represent the city? Looks like the Mayor makes those decisions – not a lot of detail on the city website.
Why the City solicitor, Blake Hurley, was included is a question to be answered.
The kids can make a difference – better than that – the kids are making a difference.
In a landmark case, Ontario’s top court has ruled that an appeal from seven young Ontarians suing the provincial government over its new greenhouse gas emissions targets can proceed.
The Court of Appeal declined to rule on the case’s substance which means extending a legal battle in Canada’s courts over their role in overseeing government climate action.
In a decision released Thursday, three judges sided with the appellants in Mathur v. Ontario that a Superior Court of Justice judge “erred” in deciding the young people’s case was a “positive rights case” in an April 2023 decision.
Seven young people with their lawyers – suing the government over its new greenhouse gas emissions targets.
Gets a little technical – the Judges said: “This is not a positive rights case. The application does not seek to impose on Ontario any new positive obligations to combat climate change”. In legal studies and political theory, positive rights refers to rights that give people something, such as a right to have an education or a right to housing.
The judges fell short of determining the merits of the case’s arguments, writing the appeals court was “not well placed” to make such a ruling. Instead, they called for a new hearing, which could be overseen by the original judge or a different one.
Thursday’s ruling gave the seven young appellants — lead applicant Sophia Mathur, Madison Dyck, Shelby Gagnon, Beze Gray, Zoë Keary-Matzner, Alex Neufeldt and Shaelyn Wabegijig — a small victory in their lawsuit against the provincial government that was first filed in 2019.
At issue — which lawyers for the seven young people argued before the Court of Appeal earlier this year — was Ontario’s weakened 2030 emissions targets passed by Premier Doug Ford’s then-newly elected Progressive Conservative government in 2018 that reduced goals from 37 per cent lower emissions below 2005 levels to 30 per cent. According to the appellants claim, this reduction violates the charter rights of current youth and future generations, specifically sections 7 and 15 that provide the right to life, liberty and security of the person and equal protection under the law respectively.
Steel mills operating in the waterfront harbour in Hamilton, Ont. Canada has had a national price on pollution since 2019 – known as the Carbon tax.
Mathur v. Ontario is the first case of its kind to be tried in Canada, and Thursday’s ruling could shape decisions in other cases facing courts in Canada and internationally asking judiciaries to more actively oversee government climate plans.
In a similar case, La Rose v. Her Majesty the Queen, is awaiting a trial date at the federal level in Canada as 15 young people sue the Canadian government on similar grounds as the seven young people in Mathur v. Ontario.
The future belongs to the young people – what a delight to see them taking the lead. There is hope yet.
Much of the material in this article first appeared in the Toronto Star
Public transit has always been a problem for Burlington.
It has been very difficult to plan transit routes with the QEW cutting through the city.
Burlington grew as a single-family housing community – the car came with the house.
Transit problems were not managed all that well until Sue Connors was appointed to the job.
When Marianne Meed Ward became the Mayor her very pro-transit views began to drive the agenda. The year before the pandemic hit the world a limited free transit use program was put in place – transit use numbers soared.
The Mayor did not have total agreement with her Council colleagues.
There is a $6 million cost to upgrade the fleet floating around that no one has every broken out.
Funding for new busses comes from the federal government – every time a new bus arrives either city staff or Council members are trotted out to the transit garage for a photo op.
New bus = photo op
New bus – staff dragged out to welcome the diesel-driven vehicle.
Transit is caught up with the transition taking place from diesel busses to electrically driven buses.
Different skill sets are needed to handle the maintenance of the buses.
It is a complex issue that gets muddled with the different views people in Burlington have on how they are going to get around the city.
They want to drive their cars – on streets that at times are in a state of gridlock.
It is going to take some very deft thinking to manage the change that will eventually take place.
On that level – Burlington is not leading.
BRAG – Burlington Residents’ Action Group is running a survey in a first stab at gathering some data. Here is the link to that survey. Your views are important click HERE
Burlington Sustainable Development Advisory Committee (10 vacancies)
Heritage Burlington Advisory Committee
Inclusivity Advisory Committee
Expect the interest in the Mundialization Committee to increase. As long as you have a passport and a friend on Council you have a decent chance of being made a member and a really good chance to travel to either Holland or Japan – unless of course the city does the responsible thing and reviews the Mundialization mandate and objective.
Councillors Nissan and Galbraith didn’t appear to know what was appropriate attire.
Should you get appointed to the Mundialization Committee do try hard not to be the embarrassment that two of the city councillors have been so far this visit.
What has taken place in Japan so far this year is an embarrassment.
First it took days to determine who was actually going to represent the city on the three day trip. The four who made the trip were the Mayor, Councillors Galbraith and Nisan and the City CAO, Hassaan Basit .
These cherry trees were given to Burlington by a Japanese citizen.
There was no mention as to why they were not at the City Council meeting on Tuesday. One would have thought it was something to be proud of – members of Council were going to be in Japan – that was the city that donated those splendid cherry trees in Spencer Smith Park.
Instead they sort of snuck out of town like someone doing a moonlight flit on their landlord because they were months behinds on their rent. For a City Council with experienced photo op practitioners – they seemed to have decided to say as little as they could about the event.
Councillor Nisan finally found his suit.
Mayor Meed Ward did send something out on one of her social media feeds but didn’t mention all the people who were on the “junket”.
We know very little about what they are doing each day – there is nothing in the way of a media feed. The city comms people haven’t sent out a thing.
Hope the members of Council don’t expect a welcome-home crowd at the airport when they land.
Days away from the first public version of the Mayor’s 2025 Budget that is now said to include an 8% plus increase over last year has BRAG – Burlington Resident Action Group ready to march on city hall and we see a sign like this.
BRAG is getting ready to do a deep dive on just what’s involved in the $6 million it will cost the city to provide free bus transit service.
For the most part, what we are seeing is significant spending – no mention, at least not at this point, that some items are going to be cut from the budget.
One of the people we keep in touch with regularly has said “Nothing is going to change with this Council until they realize they are all going to lose their council seats” -by then it might be too late for them to save their skins.
What the public is looking for is a council that is listening – that might take some time.
2020 Lakeshore Inc., loses its appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal.
Request to amend the Official Plan – Refusal of request
Details will follow on why the appeal of the developers application.
The applications propose to demolish the existing hotel and restaurant and construct a new mixed- use building in a 2-tower format atop a 5-6 storey podium, with tower heights ranging from 30-35 storeys, and associated underground parking.
Property Address: 2020 Lakeshore Road
Application to amend the Zoning By-law – Refusal of application
Description:
The applications propose to demolish the existing hotel and restaurant and construct a new mixed- use building in a 2-tower format atop a 5-6 storey
podium, with tower heights ranging from 30-35 storeys, and associated underground parking.
THIS MATTER, in respect of appeals filed by Burlington 2020 Lakeshore Inc. pursuant to s.22(7) and 34(11) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P. 13, as amended, in respect of planning applications requesting amendments to the City of Burlington’s Official Plan and Zoning By-law 2020, as amended, to permit intensification in the form of a mixed-use, high- density, tall building with two towers of 31 and 36 storeys in height on the property known municipally as 2020 Lakeshore Road, in the City of Burlington;
AND THE TRIBUNAL having held a 10-day Hearing, over the period of April 29, 2024 – May 17, 2024, at which time the Tribunal heard and received opinion evidence on the planning applications from 10 experts, in the fields of land use planning, land economics, urban design, landscape architecture, transportation, and wind impact studies.
AND THE TRIBUNAL having arrived at its decision on the planning applications before it in the Hearing;
AND THE TRIBUNAL finding that the planning applications do not satisfy the statutory requirements under the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P. 13, as amended;
INTERIM ORDER
THE TRIBUNAL ORDERS THAT the appeal is dismissed and the requested amendment to the Official Plan for the City of Burlington is refused.
AND THE TRIBUNAL FURTHER ORDERS THAT the appeal is dismissed and the requested amendment to City of Burlington By-law 2020, as amended, is refused.
The effective date of the Tribunal’s Decision and Order is October 17, 2024. Written reasons for the decision will follow.
This is the third of a series on the changes taking place in print media and the challenge of keeping the public informed.
What is working well in the new media environment?
With next to nothing available in the way of printed newspapers in the vast majority of communities in Canada we began to see the emergence of online newspapers.
At this point the following are the daily newspapers in Canada: Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal , Globe & Mail , Halifax Daily News , Montreal Gazette, National Post, Ottawa Citizen, Toronto Star , Vancouver Sun. The Halifax newspaper market is in a state of flux.
Small independent newspapers found they could no longer survive – the cost of printing a paper was something that couldn’t be covered with what there was in the way of advertising revenue.
Once a stable of 70 weekly newspapers.
The Metroland Media Group had a stable of 70 weekly newspapers, one of which was the Burlington Post – at one time they published twice a week. In September of 2023 they abruptly shut down the papers and worked their way to becoming online newspapers. Metroland was a subsidiary of the Toronto Star that was seeking creditor protection at the time.
The Burlington Gazette was the first online newspaper that was admitted into membership in what was then the Ontario Press Council – that was in 2012.
Since then there are perhaps as many as 500 on line newspapers.
Online costs were lower which meant advertising prices could be lower.
However, publishers found that many of the retailers in the small markets didn’t understand digital – they didn’t have a clue as to how they could take advantage of the immediacy of an online paper.
The online publishers had to find ways to educate their potential advertisers and teach them the benefits of being online. Their editorial teams also had to learn how to work with a 24/7 news cycle.
Classified advertising was gone and national advertising had no place to go.
By national advertising, we mean advertising done by the auto section that looks for full page full colour advertising that used to run in every city across the country. Banks and insurance plus major brands were huge national advertisers.
What we began to see was the emergence of corporations that had online papers in many communities – the biggest example at this point is Village Media that has dozens of on line newspapers.
Village Media – a collection of online newspapers that exists coast to coast.
Village Media owns and operates local news sites in a number of markets and provides technology, consulting and fulfillment services to strategic news media partners. Together, they work as a collaborative partner network, with shared technology, ideas, content and advertising potential.
They also have an online broadcast that has a paywall.
They are funded by their advertising base.
The Narwhal – a not for profit that has led the way in showing what online media can do when they joint venture with major daily newspapers.
Another example of the new approach is The Narwhal – a not for profit that was able to secure funding from three different foundations to get started. They have a loyal following that donates on a regular basis.
What has made The Narwhal the success it is, was joining forces with the Toronto Star and now the Guardian, a British newspaper that went on line in 1999.
The Guardian has since established office in Washington DC and is proving to be a strong online competitor to the New York Times and the Washington Post. By March of 2001 the online Guardian has 2.4 million unique readers.
In the joint ventures with Toronto Star and the Guardian, the Narwhal editorial people would do the on the ground investigative work with editorial input and guidance from the larger media which would then publish the articles.
We believe that the larger media provided financial as well as editorial support.
The editorial leadership at The Narwhal is for the most part female – a welcome change in the way newsrooms were once male dominated.
The Narwhal’s leadership is female – not all but most of the leadership is female. Newspapers have in the past been a male dominated business. That has changed – for the better.
They are relentless with their drive to get subscribers that donate on a regular basis.
There is another small group Compass Newspapers. They developed a curated news application designed to deliver trending news. The company’s curated news application is for millennials, powered by an AI editor, and is able to choose the global politics, current affairs, business, finance, technology, and entertainment news published every day.
The use of Alternative Intelligence allows Compass to summarize and analyze their content giving their readers the latest news instantly.
This isn’t reporting – this is collecting what others have reported and packaging it based on the profile of their users. What surprised me was the support iPolitics gives them.
For online newspapers the focus was getting the news out in a 24/7 environment; accounting and administrative stuff got a lick and a promise.
The federal government has worked hard with media organizations to force Meta and Facebook to put some of their revenue into a fund that is distributed to media that meet the criteria; one of which submitting a corporate tax returns to Canada Revenue Agency. Many of the smaller online operations haven’t grown to the point where they can file a tax returns – their accounting system is a collection of receipts in a show box.
The Halifax Examiner, an on line paper is a subscription based operation. You pay a monthly fee ($12.50 a month) and you can read everything. They are doing very well.
We are seeing some consolidation of community based online newspapers – Village Media is one example. There are foundation supported online newspapers. The philanthropic sector is being approached by many for ongoing financial support
“It is A time of massive anxiety.” Justin Trudeau was talking about Canadians’ economic outlook, pitching the durability of his liberal project to a gathering of global progressives in Montreal last month. “People notice the hike in their mortgages much more than they notice the savings in their child care,” he offered, perhaps implying that in doing so people failed to appreciate all he did for them.
A diagnosis of anxiety fits his own government, too. Mr Trudeau and his party have traversed an arc from heroic to hapless during nine years in office, and today are despised by many in Canada. Less than a quarter of the electorate plans to vote for him. With less than a year to go until a general election, Liberal-party members fear no plan exists to increase that share. They have lost two by-electionsin quick succession, as well as the support of their governing partner, the New Democratic Party. As this story was published, a letter was circulating among Liberal MPs calling on Mr Trudeau to stand down. Massive anxiety indeed.
Mr Trudeau became a beacon of morality after he swept to power in 2015, welcoming refugees from war-torn Syria that Christmas. He legalised marijuana, rewarding the record number of young people who had voted for him. He faced down a truculent President Donald Trump to salvage the North American trade pact that is foundational to Canadian prosperity. His government’s annual payment to families of up to C$7,787 ($5,660) per child under six is hailed for lifting 435,000 children out of poverty. After promising child-care subsidies to help more women into work, working-class and younger voters gave him renewed minority mandates in 2019 and 2021.
Three years later those groups have turned on Mr Trudeau. Today both tend to support the opposition, Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives. What went wrong?
Chart: The Economist
The high cost of housing is central. The cost of owning a home in Canada has increased by 66% since he took office in 2015, with prices rising faster in this century than in any other sizeable OECD country bar Australia. Lack of supply is a problem in many, but is especially acute in Canada. In 2022 the average OECD country had 468 dwellings per 1,000 inhabitants. Canada had 426, a number that has hardly moved in a decade (see chart 1). Mike Moffatt, a housing economist, says a “wartime effort” is needed to triple the current building rate and throw up 5.8m houses in the next ten years. No such luck. In August, Canadian housing starts dropped to an annualised rate of 217,000.
Demand for housing from the large number of immigrants during Mr Trudeau’s decade in power has worsened the crunch. The number of temporary foreign workers jumped from 109,000 in 2018 to just under 240,000 in 2023. The number of non-permanent residents—including temporary foreign workers, students and asylum-seekers—has more than doubled from 1.3m in 2021 to over 3m on July 1st, according to Statistics Canada, representing 7.3% of Canada’s total population of 41m.
The education and health-care systems have also felt the pinch. Universities are bursting with foreign students, often lured by unscrupulous overseas middlemen offering “sham” degrees, according to Mr Trudeau’s immigration minister, Marc Miller. There were 560,000 student visas handed out in Canada last year. Mr Miller is cutting that number to 364,000. “It’s a bit of a mess, and it’s time to rein it in,” he said earlier this year. Some elementary-school teachers flounder, as they grapple with the children of recent arrivals who often speak neither of Canada’s official languages, English and French.
The pain of high housing costs has been compounded by a mediocre economy. Canada suffers from laggardly productivity growth, which has weighed on wages. Investment has been strong in oil- and gas-fields, and in extractive industries more generally, but has been overshadowed by other parts of the economy. Investment in tech, R&D and education taken together as a share of investment is lower in Canada than anywhere else in the G7 club of rich countries.
Canada’s economic ties with the United States have created problems since the end of the pandemic. American spending switched disproportionately to domestic services after lockdowns ended. This left Canadian manufacturers, whose goods had been flying off the shelves, in the lurch. More of the job of powering Canada’s economy, therefore, fell to its services sector, which relies on demand from Canadian households and the government.
Chart: The Economist
But demand has been throttled by higher interest rates. Monetary policy has had more “traction” in Canada than in the United States, according to Tiff Macklem, the central-bank governor. In the United States, most mortgages are fixed for 30 years, compared with, typically, five in Canada. A greater share of Canadians than of Americans have already seen their mortgage payments rise, although Canadian households bear more debt, relative to income, than anywhere in the G7. They now fork out an average 15% of their disposable income to service debt, up by 1.5 percentage points since 2021, compared with 11% for Americans. And unlike Uncle Sam, Canada’s government has not tried to soften the blow by loosening the purse strings. It ran a budget deficit of just 1.1% of GDP in 2023, compared with 6.3% in the United States (see chart 2).
Climate change offered Mr Trudeau perhaps his clearest opportunity to blend moral leadership with pragmatism. But he ignored polling showing that while Canadians were concerned about the climate crisis, they were also loth to pay taxes equivalent to a Netflix subscription to fight it. His carbon tax, introduced in 2019, imposed a levy on greenhouse-gas emissions, currently running at C$50 per tonne, scheduled to rise by C$15 annually to reach C$170 per tonne in 2030. Canada’s parliamentary budget watchdog said last week that most households were worse off when indirect costs of the tax were factored in. Mr Trudeau’s failure to find a way to compensate groups who lost out as a result of the tax left it and him vulnerable to attacks from Mr Poilievre; he says the tax will lead to “nuclear winter”, trigger “mass hunger and malnutrition” and compel poor, older people to freeze. Support for the carbon levy has crumbled.
Chart: The Economist
Mr Trudeau’s standing is not helped by the waning under his Liberal government of Canada’s influence in global affairs. When it last tried to win a seat on the United Nations Security Council in 2020, it finished behind Norway and Ireland. It spends just 1.3% of its GDP on defence, far below the 2% required of NATO members, and the pace set by rearming European members facing an expansionist Russia (see chart 3). Mr Trudeau has promised Canada will hit the 2% level in 2032. Meanwhile, its relations with Asia’s two most populous countries, China and India, remain ice-bound. On October 14th India withdrew six diplomats from Canada, the latest move in an ongoing spat between the countries over the murder of a Sikh separatist in British Columbia last year. In the Middle East, Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, does not return Mr Trudeau’s calls.
Instead of adapting to or confronting challenges thrown up by his policies, Mr Trudeau has preferred to attack his critics. He seemed inert as the erosion of his party’s support has accelerated. Some Liberals privately suggest the breakdown of his marriage last year distracted him. In a shuffle aimed at energising his front bench last year more than half his cabinet changed portfolios, but the economic message remained the same: we will continue to deliver “good things” to Canadians. Only recently has Mr Trudeau begun to acknowledge that this fell short. “Doing good things isn’t enough to deal with the kind of anxiety that is out there,” he told the Montreal conference. He still describes his voters’ problems in psychological rather than practical terms.
Boxed out
Mr Poilievre identified that economic anxiety early. This lent him credibility with the sectors of the Canadian electorate who felt abandoned. He has boiled his platform down to a series of simple three-word slogans. He says his first piece of legislation will be to “axe the tax”, ditching the carbon levy. He has yet to outline what his government would do to fight climate change, but polls make it clear that Canadians care far less than they used to. All too many have forsaken Mr Trudeau, and the causes he stood for. ■
Editor’s note (October 15th 2024): This story has been updated to include India’s withdrawal of diplomats.
Correction(October 16th 2024):An earlier version of this article cited a figure of C$50 per tonne as the current level of Canada’s carbon levy. In fact, it is currently C$80 per tonne. Sorry.
The Mayor is in Japan – and so is Councillor Nisan and so is Councillor Galbraith.
We don’t know if the CAO Hassaan is part of the Burlington delegation.
From the left – Councillor NIsan, Councillor Galbraith, Mayor Meed Ward – the four people on the right have not been identified yet. There is a person to the right of Nisan – could be the CAO. Interesting that the Japanese participants are dressed in suits – not so the members of Council.
Anne Marsden adds some of what she knows and thinks about this situation. Her report:
“On December 11, 2017, Council approved an amendment to the City of Burlington framework
for managing twin city relationships to permit the celebration of twinning anniversaries every five
years.
“However, the issue most have been concerned about is that the Mayor was part of that change to 5 years knowing her goal was mayor in 2018. allowing her to take the trip to Japan not long after elected with Nisan by her side, rather than wait until her second term. . This is a much weaker economy and people are being hit hard but the Mayor and I believe Nisan (according to the city).
“I must admit there is an uncanny silence coming from council as to who is where, chose to go with the change rather than the original intention of once every ten years as many believe would have been the correct thing to do given the struggle to put food on the table for many of the Mayor’s constituents (far more than in 2017).”
We would ask Ms Bortolotti to explain how she arrived at the 876,000 number.
On Tuesday, October 16th, Leah Bortolotti told City Council that
“We did media releases supporting social media, digital ads, posters all across the city’s facilities, five media articles to date, the reach was 876,000 based on circulation publication. The sentiment at that time, not currently, was 100% neutral for media stories, so not any interest either way.”
The Gazette takes exception to the statements that were made.
Saying the reach for five articles that were published was 876,000 – we wonder what was she smoking? I know what our circulation is and I can guess what the other media that serve the Burlington market is – and it is nowhere near that number.
We would ask Ms Leah Bortolotti to explain how she arrived at the 876,000 number.
Bortolotti adds that the sentiment of the articles that were published was 100% neutral adding the phrase “at the time”
The piece on engagement in Burlington Today, for which Lawson Hunter, the author, deserves credit, was scathing.
The Gazette has yet to see anything that was anywhere near acceptable in terms of citizen engagement on the part of the city.
“I’ve seen this before, working provincially, you think that people will be very interested in a specific item, and they’re not.”
It is just something none of the people in the city communications group understands. To the best of our knowledge, there isn’t a single person in the communications group who has experience in journalism. Most of them have some accreditation in public relations.
That they hold the jobs they have was not a mistake they made – the city Human Resources does the hiring and they seem to feel that communications people don’t have to know very much about what media is and how it works.
What we see communications staff doing is more fairly described as public relations – they are in place to protect the brand, to polish the apple they call the City of Burlington. Remember – the best mid-sized city in Canada. Do they know how that distinction was arrived at? They might want to look into that.
A colleague mentioned to me recently that the communications advisers for almost every department in the provincial government are former journalists – people who understand what media is; what it can do and what it cannot do.
During her remarks to Council Ms Bortolotti said: “I’ve seen this before, working provincially, you think that people will be very interested in a specific item, and they’re not.”
We were not able to find very much on the various social media about Ms Bortolotti.
She sent us a note on an article we had published pointing out an error we had made. She was right – we attributed words to the wrong person. We fixed that problem and decided to see if we could begin a conversation with Leah Bartolini. One Coucil member told us she didn’t know who the woman was when she stood at the lectern.
Leah Bortolotti was introduced as the Head of Corporate Affairs. The city org chart has been confusing almost from the day it was first introduced. The communications people seemed to have difficulty in keeping up with the details. We aren’t sure who Bortolotti replaced.
She was presentable; she was direct and on several occasions said she didn’t have the answers – not something one hears from city hall staff. Good on her for being direct.
She had a tough first day before the public, however based on what we have learned we think (hope) the public can expect an improvement on the way engagement is practiced in Burlington. Don’t jump all over the woman. Give her some time.
If experience counts, and it should – here is what Leah Bortolotti has done in the past.
She started with the City of Burlington “on August 14th after a competitive recruitment process. I am responsible for the leadership and direction of the City’s CAO office, and I also oversee the following departments: Communications and Community Engagement (in which Oanh Kasperski is the Director of Communications and Community Engagement and reports into my division), Government Relations, and the City’s Internal Auditor.
“My most recent position was at Conservation Halton as the Director of Communications and Marketing. I also worked for the Ontario Government and held various positions in different ministries including the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks as the Chief of Staff and Director of Issues Management and Legislative Affairs, and the Office of the President of the Treasury Board Secretariat as the Manager of Issues Management and Legislative Affairs.
“My undergraduate degree is an Honours of Communications with a Minor in English Language and Literature and I hold a Master’s degree in Communication Studies with a specialization in Public Relations. I also hold several certifications in digital and social marketing.
“Some background about me that would tie some of your remaining questions together would be that I’m originally from Ottawa and before the Sens were established, we were all Habs fans, given the proximity to Quebec. I’ve now been in GTA/GTHA for over 8 years and during my time here, have found that I unknowingly, and unfortunately (given their track record), became a Leafs fan.
We can only commiserate with Ms Bortolotti on her hockey preference
For the immediate future we see promise and wait to see how she changes the way engagement is done going forward in Burlington.
Hockey Canada has officially announced the roster of 44 players who will proudly represent the nation at the upcoming 2024 U17 World Challenge. Scheduled to take place from November 3 to November 9, this prestigious event will showcase young hockey talent in Ontario.
Fan Engagement Across Canada
The U17 level was where women like this learned their skills.
While the tournament is set to occur in Ontario, hockey fans from all over Canada are eager to engage with the event in various ways. Many supporters plan to travel to Ontario to experience the games firsthand, while others will opt to watch the matches via online streaming or television broadcasts. The excitement will also extend to fans who may choose to participate in sports betting, placing wagers on the outcomes of the games through various platforms. Author and sports betting expert Neil Roarty explains that sports betting in Canada has grown in popularity with British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Alberta sportsbooks all available online for punters. These sportsbooks come with robust security measures and a wide range of bonuses and promotions.
With the legalization of single-game sports betting in most Canadian provinces, fans will have the opportunity to explore odds, once available, for each team participating in the upcoming tournament. Although specific betting lines for the 2024 matches have not yet been established, anticipation is building, especially following Canada’s triumphant performance in the 2023 tournament. Last year, Canada claimed the gold medal in Charlottetown, with Cameron Schmidt scoring a dramatic backhand goal 9:18 into overtime, securing the nation’s first U17 title since 2015.
This enthusiastic engagement underscores the importance of the U17 World Challenge as a unifying event for hockey fans across the country, providing an interactive experience that allows them to immerse themselves in the sport.
Selection Process for the Canadian Team
Olympic Gold medals are won by girls that started playing hockey – U17 was one of the levels they would have played at.
The selection process for the Canadian roster was led by Byron Bonora, the U17 head scout, along with Benoit Roy, the director of hockey operations. They collaborated closely with Scott Salmond, the senior vice president of high performance and hockey operations. The selection team also included regional scouts such as Rob Simpson (Ontario), Pierre Cholette (Quebec), Darrell Woodley (Ontario), and Darren Sutherland (Atlantic) along with representatives from various hockey organizations who contributed to the evaluation of talent.
Representation from CHL Teams
All 44 players selected have been drafted by Canadian Hockey League teams, showcasing the impressive depth of talent in Canadian junior hockey. This diverse roster includes 21 players from the Ontario Hockey League, 15 from the Western Hockey League, and eight from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. These young athletes represent the future of Canadian hockey and have demonstrated exceptional skills and dedication to their sport, reflecting the high standards of training and competition in the CHL. Their participation in the U17 World Challenge is a testament to their potential and promise as future stars.
Tournament Schedule and Key Matchups
The 2024 U17 World Challenge will commence on November 3, with Canada White facing off against Czechia at 3:30 p.m. ET, followed by Canada Red competing against Finland at 7:30 p.m. ET. Each team will participate in two preliminary-round games before advancing to the medal rounds, culminating in the medal matches on November 9. Pre-tournament exhibition games will also take place on November 1, providing teams with a final opportunity to prepare for the main event.
A History of Excellence in U17 Hockey
The U17 World Challenge, established in 1986, has become a significant platform for young hockey players to showcase their skills on an international stage. This tournament not only allows players to compete against some of the best young talent from around the world but also provides invaluable experience in high-pressure situations. Over the years, more than 2,000 NHL draft picks have participated in this tournament, demonstrating its importance in developing future stars of the game.
Notably, 17 players have been selected first overall in the NHL Entry Draft since 2001, highlighting the caliber of talent that emerges from this competition. Alumni of the tournament include illustrious names such as Ilya Kovalchuk, Rick Nash, and Connor McDavid, who have all gone on to have impressive careers in the NHL. The U17 World Challenge serves as a critical stepping stone for young athletes aspiring to reach the highest levels of professional hockey, making it an essential part of the sport’s developmental landscape.
Anticipating the 2024 U17 World Challenge
She isn’t there yet but if this young girl is going to be a champion or just enjoy the sport at some point she will be a U17
As the 2024 U17 World Challenge approaches, excitement is building for the thrilling matchups that will showcase Canada competing against top teams from around the globe. Fans are eager to witness the rise of the next generation of hockey stars, making this tournament a must-watch event.
Many hockey enthusiasts are looking to engage with the action by attending games, streaming online, or watching on TV. The legalization of sports betting adds another layer of excitement, allowing fans to place wagers on game outcomes and enhance their viewing experience. This combination of live action, community involvement, and the thrill of betting makes the U17 World Challenge a highly anticipated highlight in the hockey calendar.
By Jim Portside
