 By Pepper Parr
February 08, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Policing is profitable. I know – I’ve paid more than my share of tickets.
The Court for provincial offences –as opposed to criminal code offences or financial claims is located in Burlington.
It is and is known as the Halton Court Services and it makes a bundle of money that is split between the four municipalities in the Region – Burlington, Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills.
 Site plan for the new court house to be built in the Alton Village. The offences taken to this court are from Halton Regional Police Service, OPP, Ministry of Transportation, Conservation Halton – any offence that is set out in provincial legislation.
It is a busy place – so busy that a new court house is being built in the Alton Village – shovels were expected to be in the ground by now.
 Plans for the new court house were on display for those interested in the design – build – lease back the city wanted. Emshih Developments people check out the plans. The new court house will be a Design-Build and Leaseback agreement with a 30 year lease to be negotiated.
A total of 55,437 charges (75.9% of target) were filed with HCS by end of third quarter and it is expected that charges will reach 95.9% of target (70,000) by year-end. This is due to a slight decline in number of charges filed by local police (HRPS, OPP and MTO) and no filing of red light camera charges during the impending mail strike.
The place is busy enough to require an additional permanent part-time Prosecutor.
On the income side this is a nice piece of business:
The following are the financial results for HCS at end of third quarter:
• Gross revenues of $6,909,402 (81.0% of budget)
• Overall expenditures of $3,283,653 (72.9% of budget)
• Year-to-date net revenue of $3,625,749 (90.0% of budget)
 The court house on Plains Road will close when the new building is constructed in the Alton Village. Given the continuing growth in population, a moderate increase of 1,000 charges (71,000) is projected for 2017. Gross revenue for HCS in 2017 is budgeted at $8.82 million as compared to $8.53 million during 2016.
Included in the report was mention of “red light” cameras – they produce offence notices that pull in an excess of $300 for those who chose to run that red light at two in the morning.
All this goes to city council on February 13, 2017
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By Staff
February 8th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Healthy Kids Community Challenge Burlington is encouraging local businesses to become free water bottle refill locations in the community. Organizations can register at www.bluew.org.
The Blue W is a unique community-based program dedicated to promoting municipal tap water as a healthy, easily accessible alternative to purchasing bottled drinks. We provide mapped details on where to find clean, free, public and commercial sources to fill your reusable bottle without compelling you to make additional purchases – just look for the Blue W decal in participating shop and restaurant windows.
 The idea is for you to be able to walk into any location that has a Blue W in their window and get your water bottle refilled.
Residents can locate free water bottle refill locations in the city by looking for the blueW decal on the doors and windows of businesses or by visiting www.blueW.org.
 Burlington is one of 45 communities selected to take part in the Province of Ontario’s Healthy Kids Community Challenge program, created to support healthy and active lifestyles in children zero to 12 years old.
Encouraging healthy lifestyles is included in the A Healthy and Greener City direction from the City of Burlington’s 25-year Strategic Plan.
The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care launches a new theme related to physical activity or healthy eating about every nine months and Healthy Kids Community Challenge Burlington works together with local organizations to develop programs, policies and initiatives that promote and enable healthy behaviours.
 When horses mattered there were water troughs along main streets. Anyone remember where these things might have been in Burlington? The current Healthy Kids Community Challenge theme, Water Does Wonders, is all about encouraging children and families to drink water as a healthy alternative to sugar-sweetened beverages.
Chris Glenn, director Parks and Recreation hopes local businesses and organizations will register with blueW and welcome people into their stores and offices so that people can get tap water anywhere in the community for free when they need a refill.”
Interesting: Log into www.blueW.org and see if this is something you would take on.
 By Pepper Parr
February 8th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
There is a CBC radio program I seldom miss – “The House” every Saturday morning at 9:00 am
Certified political junkies never miss it.
Last Saturday, Chris Hall interviewed Burlington’s MP and Cabinet Minister of Democratic Institutions Karina Gould.
 She was just a local girl, went to M.M. Robinson, then to McGill University where she decided the wanted to be a Member of Parliament. I have covered Karina since the day she announced her candidacy. I watched her actually pry away the Burlington riding from Mike Wallace which she did by creating a team of people that were out on the streets almost every weekend.
They would meet at Emmas Back Porch and then head out in teams and do the door knocking. Gould won by being the better campaigner.
On a door step her energy and just plain likability came through.
She once explained what tended to happen when she got to the end of a street she was door knocking on. “People would tell me”, explained Gould “that they intended to vote Liberal but weren’t going to put up a lawn sign.”
On one street Gould said she wanted to shout out: ‘You’re all Liberals” and they were – or enough of them to make her a member of the House of Commons.
 Gould with her campaign team during the election that took her to Ottawa – they ran a superb campaign. She performed well. She loved the moment when then American President Barak Obama recognized her when he paid a visit to Canada.
Gould has that genuine youthful energy – she is just a likeable person who also has the ability to back away from the political rhetoric and ask how a person is doing when she knows they are struggling.
Watching her do the “opening pitch” at what was then the Burlington Bandits was something to observe. It didn’t look as if baseball was a sport she excelled in – but she did get the ball over the plate.
 The local baseball team didn’t need a pitcher – they did change their name the following season. When word got out that Prime Minister Trudeau was going to shuffle his Cabinet everyone was pretty sure that Maryam Monsef was on her way out. But few predicted that Gould was on her way in.
She was given Democratic Institutions – and within days of getting back to the House of Commons she announced that the First Past the Post promise made during the election was dead in the water.
When Gould was interviewed on CBC’s The House, it was evident she had grown into the role of a Cabinet Minister quite quickly and was pretty good at dodging some of the questions. She gave the pretty pat statement that her job as Minister was to “protect, improve and make the election process more accessible” and she stuck to it.
Hall wanted to know when she learned that the Prime Minister was not going to make good on his election promise.
Gould explained: “We’ve listened to the public; there is no consensus so we are not going forward with this initiative.”
“When you took this job as minister of democratic institutions” asked Hall, “ did you know at that time that it was looking like the proposal to change the election system would fall ?”
 Mike Wallace, former Conservative MP, paying homage to Karina Gould on election night. Gould responded: “When the Prime Minister asked me to join cabinet and when he asked me to take on this portfolio what he said to me was that he wanted me to make sure that I protect improve and make more accessible our Democratic institutions.”
Hall came back with: “The question was did you know at that time that you would be pulling away from the promise to have a different election system?”
Gould, sticking to her guns said: “My mandate letter was made public on Wednesday so I’m happy and looking forward to delivering on it.”
That 29 year old, with less than a month’s experience as a Cabinet Minister behind her performed admirably as a politician.
Nathan Cullen, NDP member for Skeena-Bulkley Valley in British Columbia, met with Gould the day before she as made a Cabinet minister and asked for some advice on what the Parliamentary committee could and should do next in its attempt to change the way we elect our governments.
Cullen did not know that she was about to be made a Cabinet Minister and Gould was not in a position to tell him.
What we are seeing is a young woman who has all the traits needed to become a strong politician. A good one; only time will tell.
 Some thought this junior minister was being made a sacrificial lamb when made Minister of Democratic Institutions – she got past the barrage or criticism rather well. The Prime Minister will be keeping a closer eye on her. While Burlington is very proud of her – the citizens needs to keep in mind the quote from Junius that appears at the top of the Globe & Mail editorial page.
“The subject who is truly loyal to the Chief Magistrate will neither advise or submit to arbitrary measures.”
The complete mandate letter an be found at:
https://pm.gc.ca/eng/minister-democratic-institutions-mandate-letter
 By Staff
February 15th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
For readers of The Book of Negroes, Bound for Canaan, House Girl and The Illegal comes the story of a fifteen-year-old escaped slave named Cecelia Reynolds, who slips away to freedom in Canada while her Kentucky owners holiday at Niagara Falls.
Kaarolyn Smardz Frost will be talking about her book, Steal Away Home, at Central library on Tues., February 21, 7 p.m.
 Kaarolyn Smardz Frost In this compelling work of narrative non-fiction, Governor General’s Award winner Karolyn Smardz Frost brings Cecelia’s story to life. Cecelia was a teenager when she made her dangerous bid for freedom from the United States, across the Niagara River and into Canada. Escape meant that she would never see her mother or brother again. She would be cut off from the young mistress with whom she grew up, but who also owned her as a slave holder owns the body of a slave. This was a time when people could be property, when a beloved father could be separated from his wife while their children were auctioned off to the highest bidder, and the son of a white master and his black housekeeper could become a slave to his own white half-sister and brother-in-law.
Cecelia found a new life in Toronto’s vibrant African American expatriate community. Her rescuer became her husband, a courageous conductor on the Underground Railroad helping other freedom-seekers reach Canada. Widowed, she braved the Fugitive Slave Law to cross back into the United States, where she again found love, and followed her William into the battlefields of the Civil War. Finally, with a wounded husband and young children in tow, she returned to the Kentucky she had known as a child. But her home had changed: hooded Night Riders roamed the countryside with torches and nooses at the ready. When William disappeared, Cecelia relied on the support and affection of her former mistress—the Southern belle who had owned her as a child.
 Only five of the letters between Cecelia and her former mistress, Fanny Thruston Ballard, have survived. They are testament to the great love and the lifelong friendship that existed between these two very different women. Reunited after years apart, the two lived within a few blocks of each other for the rest of Fanny’s life.
Steal Away Home, is the riveting true story of escaped slave Cecilia Reynolds and her lifelong friendship with her former mistress.
 By Pepper Parr
February 7th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
You will have heard the phrase – sector disruption” – which is when someone comes up with an idea that shakes up a sector of an industry.
 Apple did that with their iTunes service – record stores took a huge hit. Newspapers took it between the eyes when Craig’s List and decimated the classified advertising business that kept many newspapers alive.
These advances in technology have had massive impacts on the way we get things done.
Pause now – and agree with me – you can talk 200 words a minute can’t you? You probably know others who can as well and wish they didn’t continue to do that when you are around.
Can you type 200 words a minute? Most of us can’t – at least not with much in the way of accuracy.
 The screen you work from – but all you have to do is talk and your words appear on the screen. What if you talked 200 words a minute and your computer captured those words which you could drop into a report or send out as an email.
You can talk into your cell phone and see the words come up on the screen. That feature is in actuality the Google speech to text feature that is built into Android phones.
Nine guys who have a converted store front they call their head office in the north west part of the city where the rents are low and parking usually isn’t a problem – and there is a decent coffee shop steps away, found a way to port that same Google speech to text feature to a desk top or lap top computer.
They called it LilySpeech and are marketing the service that costs $2.49 a month and you can cancel it any time you like.
Download and install it and then whenever you want to use the program you click on the icon that will get dropped into your computer when you set up. All you have to do is talk away.
You do have to be quite specific.
You say:
The specifications are quite specific and the costing has been done period new line
You have to dictate the punctuation.
 There is nothing fancy about the head office set up. Lots of empty pizza boxes in a corner plus hours and hours of pouring over code to get LilySpeech just right. Type at 200 words a minute – and it works. Jonathan Adams, one of the nine partners, believes he and his colleagues are on to something – they have completed the all the beta testing and have ironed out the bugs. “We keep adding additional features – small things that just make it better” he said.
How does it operate?
Once you’ve downloaded and registered a small icon will appear – on your computer – you click on that and LilySpeech shows up on your computer screen.
Then you start talking and LilySpeech generates the text in real time. When you have finished you click to transfer what you dictated to wherever you want it to appear; it could be a WORD file or an email.
LilySpeech is really a productivity tool – that has features that will save you a lot of time – especially for those tasks that are repetitive. You can set up a list of words that might be difficult for the speech to text software to pick up; scientific phrases that you use often. You’d say special word 5 and whatever that special word is will appear on the screen.
You can give the special word any definition – choose whatever works for you.
 This is a productivity tool for anyone who uses the same material over and over; marketing people will just love this feature. You create the message and save it – and when you are using LilySpeech you just go to the “Canned Answers” section click on the one you want, it drops into your document and you continue with your dictation.
Like anything new, it takes a little fiddling to get just what you want – but it comes easily.
LilySpeech is something well worth looking into – and at a price of $2.49 a month you can’t go wrong. A newspaper or a cup of coffee costs more than this service.
Log into www.LilySpeech.com and give it a go – there is a one month free trial.
You will be on your way to saving hours of time each day.
By Staff
February 7th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The provincial government isn’t going to take too much guff from Patrick Brown, leader of the Progressive Conservative opposition party.
Brown, MPP for Simcoe North and leader of the opposition was speaking to the Ontario Road Builders Association where, according to the Ontario Ministry of Transpiration he “made a number of false statements about the province.
“Facts Still Matter in Ontario”, said the Ministry spokesperson, “especially when it comes to the historic amount of transportation infrastructure being built right now across the province.”
Brown said: “We want to make sure that historic infrastructure $130 billion is actually spent on infrastructure not spent simply on, on promises, on press releases”
Fact: Cost of the new GO station in Richmond Hill: $22 million, cost of the press release announcing it was open: $0, cost of catching Patrick Brown making up facts: priceless
Brown said: “We have become the capital of red tape in North America”
Fact: The CFIB nominated has nominated the Ontario government for its golden scissors award for cutting red tape 3 years in a row. This year the government received two nominations.
Brown said: “Projects need to start within mandate… It’s an insincere commitment promising something for 2019 or 2031”
Fact: Meaningful projects take longer than 4 years to build. If Patrick Brown won’t build anything that takes longer than 4 years that means he wouldn’t build any new subways or LRT’s.
Brown said: “The biggest announcement was for Hydro One, government said we’d get money for infrastructure. Of the first $4 billion sold, 0 went into infrastructure, money has been diverted to general revenue”
Fact: All of this money went into the Trillium Trust to be spent on projects like like GO Regional Express Rail, Mississauga and Hamilton LRT’s and the recently announced natural gas expansion.
Brown said: “I believe we’ve seen lip service to infrastructure over the last 10 years but we’re not seeing shovels in the ground”
 Waterloo LRT under construction  Eglington LRT in Toronto Fact: Here are some pictures of shovels in the ground
 Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne Do you get the impression that the political parties are moving to an election footing. Premier Wynne just might call a snap election if she can find an issue to run with.
Stay tuned
 By Staff
February 6th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Live – from the QEW.
Visuals taken from the cameras along the QEW.
At 6:00 pm this evening this is what it looked like.
  A two-vehicle accident on the QEW earlier this afternoon shut down all the westbound lanes – traffic was funneled to the Guelph Line exit.
 A collision between a cube van and a Toyota passenger resulted in the female driver of Toyota, being trapped. The OPP said it took some time for the woman to be extricated.
 By Staff
February 6th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Paper is given life through the works presented in the two Art Gallery of Burlington shows: A Safe Haven: Raphael Vella and Visual Poetry: Contemporary Woodcuts.
As a time honoured medium for artists, paper allows for the expression of thoughts, observations, reflections and statements. Artists Raphael Vella (Malta), Tom Hammick (United Kingdom), Donna Ibing (Burlington, ON) and Naoko Matsubara (Oakville, ON) use this medium to explore a variety of subject matter from contemporary politics to everyday life.
A Safe Haven: Raphael Vella combines his two series of drawings, For the Welfare of All Children alongside ten works from No Place Like HOMeS. For Vella, the role of the artist is not to create an object, but to engage people by sparking discussions and questions. In For the Welfare of All Children, Vella questions society’s supervision of children and the imposed social structures to protect them. For the series No Place Like HOMeS, Vella combines iconic buildings with the ravages of the Syrian War, bringing to the fore the power of war over peace and destruction over construction, while questioning the act of reclaiming such sites.
Visual Poetry: Contemporary Woodcuts looks at the work of Tom Hammick (United Kingdom), Donna Ibing (Burlington, ON) and Naoko Matsubara (Oakville, ON). Each artist works in a different style, though all execute their work on a grand scale producing multiple layers of meaning, creating unique and thought provoking work.
 Raphael Vella Raphael Vella is an artist, educator and curator based in Malta. He obtained a PhD in Fine Arts at the University of the Arts London in 2006, and is currently Senior Lecturer at the University of Malta. He has exhibited his works in important international exhibitions and venues, including the Venice Biennale, Domaine Pommery (Reims, France), Modern Art Oxford in the UK and the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland. For many years, he has also been active as a curator, having directed the Valletta International Visual Art festival (VIVA) in 2014 and 2015, and is currently co-curating the Malta Pavilion at the Venice Biennale of 2017. He has also directed the project ‘Divergent Thinkers’ for emerging artists in Malta since 2011.
 Tom Hammick Tom Hammick is a British artist based in East Sussex and London. He is a Senior Lecturer in Fine Art, Painting and Printmaking at the University of Brighton, and a Visiting Lecturer of Fine Art at University of Ulster, and Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD University). He has work in many major public and corporate collections including the British Museum (Collection of Prints and Drawings), Victoria and Albert Museum, Bibliotheque Nationale de France (Collection of Prints and Drawings), Deutsche Bank, Yale Centre for British Art, and The Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
 Donna Ibing Donna Ibing of Burlington is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art, and is considered one of Ontario’s leading artists in painting and printmaking. Her work has been shown in major cities across Canada including Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. Ibing’s work can be found in collections across Ontario including the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Kitchener/Waterloo Gallery and the Toronto Public Library and Archives.
 Naoko Matsubara Naoko Matsubara graduated from the Kyoto Academy of Fine Arts, and was a Fullbright scholar at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh where she received her MFA. Subsequently she studied at the Royal College of Art in London. In 1981 she became a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, and in 2009 she received an honourary doctorate of Fine Art from Chatham University in Pittsburgh. She continues to create single-sheet woodcuts, paintings and murals from her Oakville studio. Matsubara’s work can be found in private and public collections around the world including the British Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Cincinnati Art Museum; The White House; the National Museums of Modern Art, Tokyo and Kyoto; Staatliche Museum zu Berlin, Germany; Royal Ontario Museum; and Yale University Art Gallery.
The exhibition runs from February 10 to April 2, 2017 Art Gallery of Burlington in the Lee-Chin Family Gallery.
There is a public reception Thursday February 9, 5pm-7pm
By Staff
February 6th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Next to the weather and the amount of traffic on the QEW the upload and down load speds of your internet connection could well be the most WORDS
The map set out below is something you can access and see just what the upload and down load speeds are for where you live.
 Dark blue has the best speeds. On balance the quality of service looks kind of patchy – not exactly a selling point for the city. Odd that a part of the city the map labels as Freeman has the highest speeds – surprising is the speed available in the rural part of the city.
The city and the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) are working in partnership to test Internet performance test for the city.
You can test your Internet connection by visiting
https://performance.cira.ca/Burlington.
The test takes just a few seconds. So far 1833 tests have been run.
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) manages the .CA top-level domain on behalf of all Canadians. CIRA also develops technologies and services that help support its goal of building a better online Canada. The CIRA team operates one of the fastest-growing ccTLDs, a high-performance global DNS network, and one of the world’s most advanced back-end registry solutions.
By Staff
February 6th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
If skating isn’t your thing – then you might want to try swimming – you get to do both on Family Day – when the Red and White Fun Swim and Public Skate takes place: Monday February 20, 2017
The city has decided to “market” the event and play up the sesquicentennial year we are now in. Show your Canadian pride; wear red and white and pay an admission of just $1.50/person.
 Mayor Rick Goldring with his red and white attire. Will hundreds show up at Appleby to skate and swimming pools with red and white ? Bonus…wear red and white AND show a photo of a Canadian flag posted in your window at home and your admission is FREE!
Don’t have a flag? Download one under “Resources” at burlington.ca/canada150.
They might want to offer an additional bonus for all those who can spell sesquicentennial and also tell you what it means.
They clearly want you to have a Canadian flag in your window. With this kind of hype in February one can only imagine the size of the blow out on Canada Day in July.
Fun Swim:
Angela Coughlan noon to 2 .pm.
Aldershot pool 10 a.m. to noon
Public Skate
Appleby pad 1 noon to 2 p.m.
Appleby pad 2 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
 By Pepper Parr
February 6th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
It was late in the day, slightly overcast and cold. Nevertheless there were two boys and their Dad on the ice; the boys practicing their shot on the empty net.
 The only thing missing from this picture is a goalie in the net. The rink was put up in the Alton community. The rink was set up by residents in the community; there has been tremendous local business support but not enough “labour” support. The few people who take care of the rink spend a lot of nights out there.
It’s a decent 50 x 64 size rink that has suffered some damage to the liner. Folks have been waiting for it to get repaired.
There are no lights the community decided lights would mean kid on the ice late into the evening that might result in a lot of noise.
 That one went where it was supposed to go. A goalie would have made it a lot harder. The Alton rink is a pure community effort – the city created a local rink program that called for residents to look after a rink that the city would set up.
The following communities qualified for a rink because there was water access.
There are now 14 community rinks throughout the city – which is higher than last year.
It’s a program that works – and with decent weather the water actually gets to freeze. There was a point at which some people thought they were going to end up with splash pads.
Ken White and Mike Collins are spending a lot of their time on that rink -and they aren’t skating.
They rented a pump and draw in water from the creek.
“The task has been frustrating since the children have caused some inadvertent holes in the liner allowing water to leak out before it gets fully filled.”
Among the communities that qualified for a community rink are:
• Brant Hills Park (2 rinks possible)
• LaSalle Park
• Sherwood Park
• Bridgeview Park
• Nelson Park
• Tansley Woods Park
• Central Park
• Orchard Park
• Ireland Park
• Sheldon Park
 By Staff
February 3rd, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Asked what were the driving forces that got her into serving the public at the school board level Leah Reynolds provided the Gazette with a rather lengthy list of what shapes her involvement in the education of our children.
 Trustee Reynolds, centre with Collard on her left and Gray on her right. “I understand the public wants to know how I will vote on this issue. I will wait for the PAR committee to complete their work, for the Director’s Final Report and to hear from the public throughout this process and more formally in April, before committing to any option as I believe the best option has yet to emerge.”
The driving force behind entering public office is my passion for education as evidenced by my long-serving school volunteerism through reading club, breakfast club, chairing school councils, participating in community discussion of elementary school closing and helping lead numerous school capital fundraising enhancements and initiatives. These experiences equipped me with the skills to navigate the school board and I realized that I could be helpful to parents and community.
I also understood that there were population challenges and should a Program Accommodation Review (PAR) be held, I wanted to be a part of the conversation because schools are the heart of the community.
Reynolds pointed out that “this is a full time job, serving parents and families days, evenings and often weekends, one that trustees gladly take on in service to students and their education.”
Trustees attend far more meetings than city Councillors do.
 If Central high school is closed – for whatever reason – can Leah Reynolds get re-elected? Reynolds said her “top priority and philosophy is focused squarely on what is in the best interests of students.” She did make clear that “schools are the heart of the community”.
Her decision matrix, said Reynolds will consider more than the three factors the Gazette set out. Her considerations include the 13 factors identified by the PAR policy which are:
I. Range of mandatory program
2. Range of optional program
3. Viability of Program – number of students required to offer and maintain program in an educationally sound and fiscally responsible way
4. Physical and environmental state of existing schools
5 Proximity to other schools (non-bus distances, natural boundaries, walking routes)
6 Accommodation of students in permanent school facilities and minimal use of portable classrooms
7. Balance of overall enrolment in each school in the area to maximize student access to programs, resources and extra-curricular opportunities and avoid over and under utilization of buildings.
8. Expansion and placement of new ministry or board programs.
9. Stable, long-term boundaries to avoid frequent boundary changes
10 Cost effectiveness of transportation
11 Fiscal responsibilities
12 Existing and potential community uses and facility partnerships
13. Goals and focus of the current multi-year plan
 Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward and school board trustee Leah Reynolds the night Meed Ward launched her re-election campaign. Are these two joined at the hip on the school closing issue. There may be additional factors that bubble up as a result of the PAR committee’s discussions. But the lens through which all these factors will be viewed is what is best for students at our schools.
Every person added Reynolds “has an opportunity right now to make their voice heard to help shape the options that emerge for trustee consideration in the spring.
By Staff
February 5th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Those who remember the December 2013 Ice Storm, will have a lot of sympathy for those people in New Brunswick who have been without power for 11 days.
 Glenn Thibeault listen to Gerry Smallegange as he explains where a new hydro cable had to be put in place in north Burlington during th 2013 ice storm Burlington Hydro learned a lot from that 2013 experience and determined that they would be handling this differently when the next storm hits – and they are convinced that there will be another storm – sometime.
A new Outage Management System, complete with a real-time outage map for customers, to upgraded phone systems, website enhancements and a new mobile application were brought forward with the intention of improving Burlington Hydro’s power outage communications..
 The upgrades to the Operations room at Burlington Hydro make more information available in real time – which gets passed along to the customer base. Launched in 2014, Burlington Hydro’s Management System (OMS) includes a web-based Outage Map that provides current information about power interruptions so that customers can access information on power outages in real time. In addition to a comprehensive map of the outage area, the web-based tool allows customers to access the cause of the outage if known, and the estimated time that power will be restored.
The OMS allows customer service and call centre representatives to link customer outage reports directly to the utility’s Control Centre. As each incident is updated, service representatives are able to provide the customer with updates and relevant information about the power outage.
These improvements complement the recently announced upgrades to the company’s customer call-in capabilities. The ability to handle a greater number of customer calls at one time – 24/7 – is another way that Burlington Hydro has improved its customer service competencies in 2014.
“We partnered with our mapping vendor to develop the customer Outage Management System which we call LiveOps. The new system aggregates data and produces a comprehensive central information repository of current system outages. Cutting-edge technology integrates smart metering and Geographic Information System (GIS) map platforms, and enhances Burlington Hydro’s Control Room Operators’ ability to manage, quickly deploy crews, and track power outages.
 Gerry Smallegange, President and CEO, Burlington Hydro Gerry Smallegange, President and CEO, Burlington Hydro Inc., remembers how tough things were in December of 2013 – he wasn’t going to go through that experience again. He wants it to be “as convenient as possible for customers to stay informed during power interruptions and extreme weather events.”
Christmas of 2013 for Smallegange was spent in the field trying to get a grip on the scope and scale of the damage.
By Staff
February 3rd, 2107
BURLINGTON, ON
Last night, Eleanor McMahon, MPP for Burlington and Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, presented the Burlington Public Library with the Angus Mowat Award of Excellence at the Ontario Public Library Service Awards in Toronto, Ontario.
The Ontario Public Library Service Awards identify and promote creative public library service ideas. There are two types of awards: The Minister’s Award for Innovation and the Angus Mowat Award of Excellence, which recognizes a commitment to excellence in the delivery of public library services.
 (L-R) Burlington Public Library staff members Amanda Wilk, Shelley Archibald, Minister McMahon, and BPL CEO Maureen Barry at the Ontario Public Library Service Awards. Angus Mowat was a Canadian librarian who initiated and contributed to the continuing improvement of the library systems in Saskatoon and Ontario, from the 1920s through to the 1960s.
He was the Inspector of Public Libraries for the province of Ontario and remained head of the provincial library office – a part of the Ministry of Education – until his retirement in 1960.
Throughout his career he encouraged better quality collections for adults and children, professional staffing and library training, the necessity for improved finances, more efficient management by trustees and librarians, and upgraded or new buildings. He believed strongly that the ‘personal touch’ was essential for library service and that local effort, supplemented by provincial assistance, was the key ingredient in advancing local library development.
One wonders if he ever said hush in his life.
The Burlington Public Library received the Angus Mowat Award in recognition of the library’s community led youth service model, which provides empowering leadership and growth opportunities for teens.
“Libraries, librarians and the staff who run them”, said Minister McMahon, “are at the heart of our communities. I’m proud of the work that these incredible institutions do for everyone across the province, and I’m particularly proud that the Burlington Public Library’s achievements were recognized last night at the Ontario Public Library Service Awards.”
Burlington’s MPP brought one home to a library system that deserved this award
 By Staff
February 3rd, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Mainway Arena will be closed for maintenance between Feb. 14 to 17, 2017.
Plans to accommodate ice users at other city arenas are being made.
Residents with questions about ice rentals at Mainway Arena should call 905-331-7465.
For information about public skating at other locations around the city, please visit www.burlington.ca/play.
 By Staff
February 3rd. 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Crime Stoppers is said to be the second best tool the police have for catching criminals – the first is the user of finger prints.
It takes time to solve a crime – which is not always something the police have.
Crime stoppers brings old crimes to the public’s attention – more often than most people realize, someone reads the document and remembers something – they call Crime Stoppers and the crime get solved.
Each month the Halton unit of Crime Stoppers reminds the public of a crime that has yet to be solved. Here is the most recent crime they are bringing to the attention of the people of Burlington:
On June 24th 2016 at approximately 1:06 PM, an unknown male suspected forced entry through the front door of a residence on Woodview Road in Burlington. The suspect rummaged through several rooms of the home before being confronted by a resident of the home who had been in the basement at the time of the entry.
Upon seeing the resident, the suspect fled out a read sliding patio door and made good his escape with several stolen items which include a black “Gucci” duffle bag with clothing a watch and a ring.
The suspect was described as: male, black, 19-20 years of age, slim build, approximately 6’0, short black nappy hair, wearing a two toned powder blue track suit and a powder blue baseball cap
Anyone with information on this or any other crime can leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), or by texting “TIP201” with your message to CRIMES (274637), or by submitting a tip online at www.haltoncrimestoppers.ca
 By Ray Rivers
February 3, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
An act of hatred and violence. It was 1989 when another mad man slaughtered 14 female students at a University of Montreal engineering school before turning the gun on himself. In this case he was driven by his fear of ‘feminism’. So long as we have guns, guys on the edge and an issue that evokes fear and hatred we can never take our security for granted.
Given all the racist hatred emanating from so many people these days, It was only a matter of time for something like this latest tragedy to happen – the massacre of innocent worshipers in a Mosque in Quebec City.
And the responsibility for the event lies partly at the feet of the new leader in America’s White House, a position we used to refer to as the leader of the free world.
In his phone call to Trudeau, Trump offered his condolences, characterizing the massacre as the kind of actions his recent executive orders were intended to prevent. Except they weren’t. Make no mistake Trump incited this act of terrorism. His language and actions served to radicalize this young misguided Quebecer, much as ISIS has radicalized the very ones that Trump was hoping to keep out by his ban.
 And the Muslim ban. This was as poorly considered as so many of his other actions since becoming president. None of the people living in those seven banned countries are known to have committed acts of terror in America over the last quarter century. And yet almost three thousand Americans have been killed by citizens from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Lebanon – Muslim countries where Trump has business interests and which are therefore exempt form his ban.
But it’s not just Trump. He’s not the only crazy mixed-up reactionary, leading his followers out of what we once considered the new world order into a new frontier of chaos. Russian president Vladimir Putin is the ring leader, the lead conductor of this mad band of, dare I say faux -Nazis, striving to take the world back in time. His goal is the re-assembly of the Soviet Union and there is no international law or agreements that can block him in his quest.
France’s Marine Le Pen is one of our Quebec shooter’s internet heroes, along with Donald Trump. She is also a contender for presidency in this year’s elections in that confused nation. Her goal is to break up the European Union, with a Frexit, then to stop immigration and kick out Muslim immigrants. Her political party has been funded in part by Russia’s Putin, of course.
The people of Holland go to the polls this year and their far right-wing politician, Geert Wilders, another ultra-nationalist Eurosceptic, is intent on tearing apart the EU and playing nice with Mr. Putin. And then there is Brexit, an historical accident that was driven by British ultra-nationalists including a lying cabal led by former British EU representative Nigel Farage, the man Mr. Trump asked to be made British ambassador to the USA.
And Canada is not exempt from this global movement of leaders into hate and chaos. Conservative leadership contender, Kelly Leitch, who along with other leadership contender, Chris Alexander, set up the barbaric practices snitch-line prior to last year’s election. And Leitch has made the politics of division a touchstone of her campaign, demanding proof of adherence to sone kind of undefined ‘Canadian values’ – first from immigrants – and eventually from the rest of us.
The Parti Quebecois had once claimed the moral high-ground, the social conscience of Quebecers, until it too pushed the intolerance button demanding Muslim women show their faces and everyone strip themselves of those icons they’d wear for the sake of their gods and saints. This massacre lies on their doorstep too.
But at least the real leaders of Canada, Quebec’s Premier and Canada’s Prime Minister, have not bowed to this false populism of divide and conquer politics. “We will grieve with you, we will defend you, we will love you and we will stand with you,”
Ray Rivers writes weekly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was a candidate for provincial office in Burlington in 1995. He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject. Tweet @rayzrivers
Background links:
The Other Massacre
Quebec Massacre
Meryl Streep
Tolerance
More Quebec
 By Gwen Lock
February 3rd, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Yep- you couldn’t make this stuff up could you? Apparently the City of Burlington cannot function without the aid of consultants – refer to the 2017 budget request by City Manager James Ridge for a $550,000.00 ” just in case piggy bank” – approved – Cha-ching! (View on page 27 pf 2017 Proposed Operating Budget if anyone is interested)
So if it is inevitable that we are to have consultants lecturing Burlingtonians on how to live and what kind of city they are going to get for their tax dollars, as in so many other past situations, I would personally feel comfortable if it wasn’t all so “cosy”.
 City manager James Ridge is a Toderian fan. As previously reported (Inside Halton Feb 10th 2016) “It was city manager James Ridge who called in his former Vancouver colleague to advise Burlington on intensification and review of its official plan.” Cha-Ching!
OK – so James Ridge in his position as City Manager for COB calls in his ex-colleague Brent Toderian who was fired from his position (without cause) as Director of Planning, City of Vancouver in 2012 after almost 6 years.
 Brent Toderian who was fired from his position as Director of Planning, City of Vancouver. Consults for Burlington. I think it’s only natural to want check this guy out – after all consultants charge LARGE! A quick internet search brought up the following article published in the Vancouver Sun 31 January 2016 by Jeff Lee (the link to the article in below for anyone who would like to read it)
https://vancouversun.com/news/staff-blogs/brent-toderian-fired-as-vancouvers-director-of-planning
This particular article provided a bit of background as seen from a local (Vancouver) point of view. It would appear that the impetus for the firing may have been the fractious relationship that existed between then City Manager Penny Ballam and Brent Toderian – well let’s be honest – there’s no “may have” about it is there ? Consider the following after Hallam herself was ousted from her position as City Manager in 2015.
15 September 2015 – CBC News Vancouver (direct quote)
“When news of Ballem’s departure broke, former Vancouver city planner Brent Toderian, who was let go at the recommendation of Ballem in 2012, issued a tweet simply saying “What goes around, comes around.”
What goes around, comes around. #Vancouver #VanPoli
— @BrentToderian
Speaking to the CBC later, Toderian, who is now a city planning consultant for cities around the world (Cha-ching!), reflected that Ballem’s departure represented an opportunity to change the culture at city hall.
“It really is almost the entire city-making function that is about to be refreshed. That is both challenging and an incredible opportunity. “The morale at city hall has not been the best in recent years, so I think this is a chance to get back to Vancouver city hall being an international model.”
Mmmmm -classy guy – trash your old boss – reveals quite a lot. Type A personality????
So how did we end up in this situation? Like Mayor Goldring I seem to have lost the plot. REVIEW TIME !!!!!
23 March 2015 -James Ridge takes up his position as City Manager (as per COB web site)
11 February 2016 Consultant Brent Toderian arrives at the invitation of ex-collegaue James Ridge to advise Burlington on intensification and review of its official plan -Cha-Ching!
 Planning Director Mary Lou Tanner had worked with Brent Toderian before he was invited to Burlington. 21 September 2016 (as reported Inside Halton) Mary Lou Tanner, Burlington’s chief planner and director of building announces that at a cost of $20,000, Consultants BrookMcIllroy -Cha-Ching! have produced the 28 page Tall Buildings Guidelines – she described it as “a living document” that will evolve as staff has more experience implanting it. What does that even mean?
14 November 2016 Consultant Brent Toderian, invited back again to lecture, apparently by the Mayor, but this time with Consultant Jarret Walker (Jarrett Walker and Associates) -Cha-Ching!
8 December The Financial Overview of the 2017 Proposed Operating Budget is presented to The Community and Corporate Services Committee. James Ridge makes a pitch for $550,000.00 in 2017 budget -Cha-Ching!
23 January 2017 (After review and approval by The Community and Corporate Services Committee 16th and 19th January 2017) Council approves the 2017 Operating Budget. Signed, sealed and delivered! Cha-Ching!
25th January 2017 it’s reported that Developer Carriage Gate Homes has dropped the BIG planning application on the planning department’s collective overflowing desk-if approved massive Cha-ching!
Marianne Meed Ward reports it in her news letter as if it was a shock and a big surprise and arranges a public meeting. Sadly though, as correctly reported in this publication, it appears to conform to the Tall Buildings Guidelines – can you say OMB -Cha-Ching!
So after a long journey in response to your very pertinent question posed in the title of your article – “do we need consultants?” As we have seen so many times in the past COB seems totally unable to function without them I suppose the answer must be yes.
 Mayor invited Brent Toderian to speak at one of his Inspire lectures Is Brent Toderian, for example, the right choice for Burlington? I personally find it difficult to imagine a less suitable fit. He appears to have no time for consensus building; according to him you spend your energy convincing the convincible – so does that mean you ignore the yet to be convinced? Absolutely! He never ever wants to hear the words “stable neighbourhood” because in his world they do not exist; his advice is to take those words right out of the conversation.
Unsurprisingly taxpayers are viewed as nothing more than cash cows who then become an annoyance when they dare to try to get in way of “planning” As per the Brent Toderian’s of this world,rip that band-aid off quickly.
Ouch! – lookout residents!
Gwen Lock is a Burlington resident with strong views on how the city uses consultants. She believes choosing Brent Toderian to advise was a mistake.
 By Jay Fallis
February 2, 2017
OTTAWA, ON
Amidst the commotion outside the House of Commons doors, I couldn’t help but hear one MP say to another
“What’s going on here?” I think many Canadians are asking that very question as they hear the news that the Liberal Government is going to abandon its plans to reform our electoral system.
In a mandate letter to newly minted Minister of Democratic Institutions and Burlington MP Karina Gould, Prime Minister Trudeau was clear that this once touted election promise was not to be pursued.
“Changing the electoral system will not be in your mandate” it read.
As opposition MPs lined up in droves to criticize the move, I began to realize what all this would likely mean. Electoral reform, the dull policy area turned Cinderella story, was fast losing its footing.
 President of FairVote Canada Dr. Real Lavergne. To get a better sense for the situation and the road ahead for electoral reform, I decided to talk to electoral reform advocate and President of FairVote Canada Dr. Real Lavergne.
I opened with the only question I could think of: “Is it over?”
Without hesitation I got the response I had been expecting: “It’s looking over.”
As we talked, it was clear that Dr. Lavergne was disappointed by the Government’s actions.
“I think the NDP bent over backwards and so did Elizabeth May to [bring about] electoral reform… [We all were] looking for a solution that would give us a better system for Canada and this government was simply unable, unwilling, to deliver on its promise. “
Dr. Lavergne’s frustration was no doubt rooted in the all for naught work that had been dedicated to this cause.
For years FairVote Canada and many other actors have been advocating for the country to adopt a proportionally representative electoral system. Trudeau’s election victory had marked the potential turning point, as electoral reform had been outlined by the Liberals as a promise.
Since the electoral reform committee’s first meeting over the summer, politicians, advocates, academics, and ordinary Canadians spent an extensive amount of time and energy to bring about reform. However, despite their best efforts, it seems the government refused to listen.
“[FairVote Canada] wrote a letter to Minister Gould about 10 days ago…. What we were saying was: “look, if you want to reduce the disruption for sitting MPs, there are ways to do that while still bringing in Proportional Representation, here they are… We also said you could have ranked ballot… within the context of a proportional system. If it is within the context of a proportional system and what you are doing is giving voters the opportunity to express themselves in more detail, that’s great! That’s democratic.””
It was clear from what Dr. Lavergne’s was saying that the conditions existed for multiple parties to find consensus. However, despite these efforts, the government was simply not prepared to compromise.
While this announcement certainly marks a setback for electoral reform, Lavergne was confident that the extensive work of the various actors had been worthwhile.
 “I don’t know how many people voted for them strategically in 2015 but I can’t imagine any of those people doing so again… I think it will cost them.” Real Lavergne. “I think awareness for this issue in Canada is at an all-time high….As time goes on, people have been becoming more and more aware of the need for electoral reform. “
He also suggested that the fight to implement electoral reform was far from over.
“Every time there is an election now, people are outraged…. [They] are starting to understand this doesn’t make any sense, this is not democratic. As more and more people understand that, we’re going to have more situations where there is a possibility [for electoral reform] and people will keep fighting for it…This is unstoppable.”
On conclusion, Dr. Lavergne suggested that this could come back to bite the Liberals.
“I think they are going to pay quite a severe price for this. I don’t know how many people voted for them strategically in 2015 but I can’t imagine any of those people doing so again… I think it will cost them.”
As this chapter in our political history comes to a close, electoral reform seems to be lying dead on the operating table. However, maybe the fruition of reforming Canada’s electoral system to be more proportional is an inevitability that just hasn’t been realized yet. Perhaps, as Dr. Lavergne put it:
“The Liberals lost the opportunity to be on the right side of history.”
 Jay Fallis writes on politics for several newspapers in Canada.
He covers political events from Ottawa.
By Pepper Parr
February 2, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Sometime later this year the Director of Education will present the Halton District School Board trustees with a report on what he believes should be done to solve the problem he has with more than 1800 empty high school seats in Burlington.
The four Burlington trustees are glued to this issue.
 Director of Education Stuart Miller is going to have to write a major report on school closings sometime in May. Each will read over the Director’s recommendation and consider the views of those who chose to communicate with them.
When the four Burlington trustees decided to run for office and serve on the school board they entered public office with a set of values they would use to guide them in their deliberations.
The Gazette wanted to know what the driving force was for each trustee.
Was it a desire to serve the public? Was there a burning desire to resolve a school related problem in their community?
Maybe they just wanted to get out of the house a couple of nights each month.
The Gazette set out some of the possible driving forces and asked each trustee to rank them from their perspective and the importance they give to each when they make a decision on accepting or not accepting the Director’s recommendation.
We asked:
Is the driving force for you:
The financial impact of closing or not closing a high school in Burlington?
or is it
The impact the closing of a high school will have on the quality of the academic offering the closing of a high school will have on students in the communities that will be impacted?
or is it
The impact the closing of a high school will have on the community it is located in. Where does community rank in your view?
We asked: Do you feel schools are a vital part of a community and that every community should have a school in its neighbourhood?
In ranking the possible driving force for each trustee we asked:
Financial – academic – community. Label them 1, 2 or 3.
 There are going to be some long hard board of trustee meetings in April and May. We added that a trustee may feel there were other choices and invited them to add those choices but to first rank the three we set out or them.
We then invited each trustee to write whatever you wanted to expand on your choices and the views they had to support their choice.
We suggested 350 words on each choice is reasonable but write longer if they wished.
 Leah Reynolds – trustee for the ward Central high school is located in. We asked the trustees to respond within ten days but added that – if you feel you need additional time – be in touch and we will work with you to give you the time you need.
In our request we made some comments saying that “The closing of two high schools is a very significant event – it is a decision you are going to have to make based on the information you are given.
“We would like to report on the philosophy and vision for education that you bring to the responsibility you have as a school board trustee.”
We thought the request was a reasonable one.
 Andrea Grebenc: “I’ll get back to you” – she didn’t.  Tracey Ehl Harrison: A polite note – but no answers. The trustees didn’t see it that way. Two of the 11 trustees sent a note saying they would get back to us; they didn’t.
One trustee, Leah Reynolds, sent a very long response which we will publish as a separate article.
The Chair of the Board of trustees stunned us with her response which was:
The Program and Accommodation Committee (PARC) have not started their work and trustees are reluctant to comment on anything that might either impact or impede the work of the PAR committee.
We (the Board of Trustees) are ultimately the decision makers and are aware of the importance of letting the process proceed as outlined in the policy. Trustees must maintain our objectivity, without influencing or appearing to influence the PARC process.
 School board chair Kelly Amos – decides to speak for all the trustees. The Gazette felt this was a critical time and that the public deserved to know where these women come from in their thinking.
Tom Muir, an Aldershot resident who comments frequently in the Gazaette said: “This is their job, and if they don’t want to do this for their own “political” motives then they have lost their way, and are not representing us. Commenting is not the same as trying to affect the vote
We will put these questions to the trustees again once the Director has sent them his report.
Having the views now would give the public an opportunity to lobby the trustees who are there to listen to the views of the people they represent.
These people cannot hide – they have an important job to do.
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By Pepper Parr
