By Pepper Parr
 BURLINGTON, ON June 28, 2011 _ Soon, very, very soon – this Wednesday in fact Brenda Heatherington will go to the front of the room and give the public a Sneak Peak of the inaugural season for the Burlington Performing Arts Centre.
Expect the Burlington Teen Tour Band – but what else ? Drama? Jazz ? Concerts ? Heatherington has deep experience and an enviable reputation and did stellar work in Edmonton.
 Brenda Heatherington, Ex Dir of BPAC is front and center now with the fall line up How will Heatherington find the balance between what the public will immediately like and buy tickets for and at the same time gently nudge a public that hasn’t had access to all that much culture: the bash em, smash em truck events in Hamilton don’t count.
Will we learn that local small theatre has taken to the new centre ? Will we learn that there is going to be a Nutcracker Suite this Christmas ? Last weekend there was a National Academy Orchestra out of Hamilton that put on a stunning performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto played by Laurence Kayaleh that played to a full house that had extra seats set up in the aisle at St. Christopher’s Anglican Church. The appetite for significant cultural events is certainly there – will the BPAC people fully understand their community and both cater to what they want and at the same time develop appetite for music and drama they’ve not heard or seen before.
Up until now all the city has heard is that the build of the Centre is “on budget and on time” and that we have to wait for the program to be announced.
And so now the moment has come. Let’s see what they can do.
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By Staff from the New York Times
 BURLINGTON, ON June 28, 2011 – Those little boxes that usher cable signals and digital recording capacity into televisions have become the single largest electricity drain in many North American homes, with some typical home entertainment configurations eating more power than a new refrigerator and even some central air-conditioning systems.
There are 160 million so-called set-top boxes in the United States, one for every two people, and that number is rising. Many homes now have one or more basic cable boxes as well as add-on DVRs, or digital video recorders, which use 40 percent more power than the set-top box.
 Costs more to run this thing than it does your refrigerator. Saving energy means changing the way we live our lives – do you want to wait for the DVR to “warm” up ? Or do you have to have an “instant on” for your TV set? One high-definition DVR and one high-definition cable box use an average of 446 kilowatt hours a year, about 10 percent more than a 21-cubic-foot energy-efficient refrigerator, a recent study found.
 These set-top boxes are energy hogs mostly because their drives, tuners and other components are generally running full tilt, or nearly so, 24 hours a day, even when not in active use. The recent study, by the Natural Resources Defense Council, concluded that the boxes consumed $3 billion in electricity per year in the United States — and that 66 percent of that power is wasted when no one is watching and shows are not being recorded. That is more power than the state of Maryland uses over 12 months.
“People in the energy efficiency community worry a lot about these boxes, since they will make it more difficult to lower home energy use,” said John Wilson, a former member of the California Energy Commission who is now with the San Francisco-based Energy Foundation. “Companies say it can’t be done or it’s too expensive. But in my experience, neither one is true. It can be done, and it often doesn’t cost much, if anything.”
The perpetually “powered on” state is largely a function of design and programming choices made by electronics companies and cable and Internet providers, which are related to the way cable networks function in the United States. Fixes exist, but they are not currently being mandated or deployed in the United States, critics say.
Similar devices in some European countries, for example, can automatically go into standby mode when not in use, cutting power drawn by half. They can also go into an optional “deep sleep,” which can reduce energy consumption by about 95 percent compared with when the machine is active.
 One British company, Pace, sells such boxes to American providers, who do not take advantage of the reduced energy options because of worries that the lowest energy states could disrupt service. Cable companies say customers will not tolerate the time it takes to reboot the system once the system has been shut down or put to sleep.
“The issue of having more efficient equipment is of interest to us,” said Justin Venech, a spokesman for Time Warner Cable. But, he added, “when we purchase the equipment, functionality and cost are the primary considerations.”
But energy efficiency experts say that technical fixes could eliminate or minimize the waiting time and inconvenience, some at little expense. Low-energy European systems reboot from deep sleep in one to two minutes.
Alan Meier, a scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, said of the industry in the United States, “I don’t want to use the word ‘lazy,’ but they have had different priorities, and saving energy is not one of them.”
 Literally hundreds of TV channels and the capacity to record and save hours and hours of programming – and now we learn we are eating up all kinds of electricity because no one asked for a more efficient design. The Environmental Protection Agency has established Energy Star standards for set-top boxes and has plans to tighten them significantly by 2013, said Ann Bailey, director of Energy Star product labeling, in an e-mail. The voluntary seal indicates products that use energy efficiently. But today, there are many boxes on the list of products that meet the Energy Star standard that do not offer an automatic standby or sleep mode.
“If you hit the on/off button it only dims the clock, it doesn’t significantly reduce power use,” said Noah Horowitz, senior scientist at the natural resources council.
Energy efficiency is a function of hardware, software, the cable network and how a customer uses the service, said Robert Turner, an engineer at Pace, which makes set-top boxes that can operate using less power while not in active use.
Sometimes energy efficiency can be vastly improved by remotely adjusting software over a cable, Mr. Turner said. In this way, Pace reduced the energy consumption of some of its older boxes by half.
Mr. Wilson said he routinely unplugged his set-top boxes at night and waited only 45 seconds for television in the morning. But Dr. Meier said that when he tried to power down his home system at night, it took “hours” to reboot because the provider “downloaded the programming guide in a very inefficient way.”
 Cable providers and box manufacturers like Cisco Systems, Samsung and Motorola currently do not feel consumer pressure to improve box efficiency. Customers are generally unaware of the problem — they do not know to blame the unobtrusive little device for the rise in their electricity bills, and do not choose their boxes anyway.
Those devices may cause an increase of as little as a few dollars a month or well over $10 for a home with many devices. In Europe, electricity rates are often double those in the United States, providing greater financial motivation to conserve.
Cisco Systems, one of the largest makers of set-top boxes, said in an e-mail that they would offer some new models this year that would cut consumption by 25 percent “through reduced power used in ‘on’ and standby states.” There will be no deep sleep or fully “off” setting.
 In simpler times television stations didn’t broadcast 24x7 and there were just two – maybe three channels. Now we have hundreds of channels and we use a lot of electricity to make all the equipment operate. What would you do to get the cable companies to provide you with a more efficient set top box? But Cisco said that taking advantage of the potential energy savings for a box would also depend on “how it is operated by the service provider.” Cable and satellite providers will have to decide whether the boxes can automatically go to standby, for example, and whether customers will be able to adjust their own settings. Currently, providers often do system maintenance and download information at night over the cable, so an ever-at-the ready cable box is more convenient for them.
Cable companies can become Energy Star “partners” if they agree to install or upgrade boxes so that 25 percent to 50 percent of the homes they serve have “energy star qualified” equipment. The E.P.A. merely encourages providers to use units that can automatically power down at least partly when not in use.
 But as of Sept. 1, typical electricity consumption of Energy Star qualified products would drop to 97 kilowatt hours a year from an average of 138; and then by the middle of 2013, they must drop again to 29 kilowatt hours a year. Companies have fought the placement of the “Energy Star” seal on products and the new ambitious requirements, which may still be modified before enacted.
Mr. Wilson recalled that when he was on the California Energy Commission, he asked box makers why the hard drives were on all the time, using so much power. The answer: “Nobody asked us to use less.”
The biggest challenge in reducing energy use is maintaining the rapid response time now expected of home entertainment systems, Mr. Turner said. “People are used to the idea that computers take some time to boot up,” he said, “but they expect the TV to turn on instantly.”
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON June 27, 2011 Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital (JBMH) was ranked dead last in a listing of wait times at Ontario hospitals.
Ninety percent of the sickest patients spent up to 25.2 hours in the Burlington hospitals emergency room in April of this year before being discharged or admitted. That’s the longest total ER wait time for seriously ill patients at any Ontario hospital measured that month. It is virtually identical to the 26 hour statistic that JBMH reported in 2009.
The problem, according to hospital officials isn’t the ER, it’s the lack of beds. Officials report that JBMH has many acute care beds ‘clogged’ with older patients who no longer need hospital care but must wait for beds to open up in a long term care facility or nursing home.
 With the beds in the upper levels of the hospital clogged with patients who don’t have long term care homes to go to – patients get held in emergency leading to JBMH having the longest wait times in the province. One might understand that a problem was identified in 2009 when data was collected – but that was two years ago. It is really unacceptable for the hospital to say that they are still struggling. That’s somebody’ Mother ‘clogging’ up that bed if you don’t mind.
Burlington’s city council has set aside more than $4 million in a reserve fund that will be given to the hospital when it’s development plans get approval – what’s the delay ?
The city that was ranked as the third best in the country to live in and then the second best to raise a family in is now the city with the longest wait times to get a hospital bed in. Patients are left in the ER because there are no beds available for them elsewhere in the hospital.
JBMH has pitched a $300 million redevelopment a pan to the province that would add at least 70 acute care beds. Hospital officials are said to be “hoping” for approval for their plan which calls for the additional beds to be in place by 2013 or 2014 – but added that the beds are needed now.
There is something wrong with a process that allows the province to drag their feet as much as they have when the city had bellied up to the bar and put their money on the table.
There hasn’t been a word from our MPP; Savoline is packing her bags for her trip to the land of happy retirement which she has earned, if not for her work on behalf of the city at Queen’s Park then for her work at the Regional level where she made some very significant and important changes.
The Mayor and a couple of the council members were recently at Queen’s Park sitting in on a presentation to stop any highway across the escarpment. It would have been nice to see them all banging their shoes on the table while they were there and demanding to know what the province was going to do about getting along with the hospital development proposal. But this is Burlington and we are polite. Tell that to the person who waits more than 25 hours for a bed at the hospital.
We are about to get into the serious part of a provincial election – an opportunity for citizens to ask some hard questions of this government and to challenge the Liberal candidate to who happens to have a lot of experience on different JBMH Boards. Press Karmel Sakran, the Liberal candidate hard and ask tough questions. What would he do to bring about a change? What kind of a plan does he have to lobby the health Ministry and how much research has he done.
During the election campaign Burlington needs to hear what each of the political parties has in the way of a plan that is specific to Burlington.
The government is certainly aware of just how unhappy voters are. A recent report produced by an organization known as MASS LBP, an organization that has done some good work in Burlington when they did much of the public survey grunt work for the Shape Burlington people and also did some work with Rick Goldring when he was Council member in Ward 5. MASS LBP (the LBP stands for Led by People) has also done work for the Region and is recognized around the world as a leader in the field of getting the views of a large community thro9ugh what they call their “civic lottery”; an approach that sends letters out to people who were randomly selected and invites them into intensive workshops were a lot of questioning and debating takes place. This intensive, digging deeply into the way people think produces a much finer more detailed response than a simple opinion poll. MASS is particularly strong in the public health field and are known around the world as a significant force in the collecting of data and then analyzing the data for policy makes to use.
We mention this organization and want to pass on to you some of the findings that came out of the recent research work MASS did in the health care field. The full report is available at https://www.waittimealliance.ca/
After three weekends filled with lively and lengthy discussions the panelists reached the following consensus. How do they compare with your thinking ? What would you do with these results ?
1. Step up Prevention and Promotion. Direct a share of alcohol and tobacco taxes towards health promotion. Expand nutrition and phys-ed in schools, more public education on active living, better food labeling.
2. Improve Accountability and Incentives. Link compensation for physicians to measurable patient outcomes and satisfaction, encourage health professionals to form interdisciplinary primary health teams, expand reporting in hospitals that measure quality and patient satisfaction.
3. Strengthen Community Care. Requires strengthening of partnerships, mobilization of volunteers, creation of patient and community support groups, reduce cyclical funding constraints, prepare for an aging population with new resources for community services that keep people at home.
4. Expedite eHealth and improve information-sharing. Communicate the importance of eHealth while addressing access and privacy issues.
5. Improve Access and Timeliness. Expand family health team models. Utilize nurse practitioners more widely in primary care clinics and emergency departments, and develop a centralized specialist referral system.
Do the results of the survey work done by MASS LBP reflect the way people in Burlington feel? If they do – what is being done by people at the hospital to bring about the changes the public wants ? Is the hospital communicating effectively with the community ? Is the community being effectively served by the hospital? These are all questions that can and should be part of the public debate we are about to get into as part of the up coming provincial election.
 The JBMH hospital Executive Director, Ed Vandewall does get out to meet with people; just doesn’t seem to be able to get to community meetings. The above was a SNAP photo of Eric at a fund raising event. It is something to watch a city council be very proactive and resolute in setting aside money in a budget surplus and dedicate it to hospital development and at the same time commit a portion of municipal taxes for at least the next ten years to the development of the hospital. In all my time at city committee and council meetings I’ve yet to see anyone from the hospital address Council. I know of at least one council member who had arranged for the Executive Director of the hospital to appear at a Ward meeting but that got cancelled at the last minute because he was summoned to Queen’s Park to meet with the minister. We’ve not seen any public report or news release from the hospital saying what was talked about.
We have some serious health services problems in this province and in Burlington, where the population is already skewed towards an aging population. Burlington is a “move to” destination for many seniors who want a quiet, safe community that they can spend their retiring years in. We are a safe city with plenty of community services for those who can afford the housing. The city is certainly doing its part. The hospital, which has administrative staff that earn much more than many people at city hall and a load more than our Council members.
Some changes needed and a serious reality check as well.
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By Staff
BURLINTON, ON June 27, 2011 Jane McKenna, a Burlington entrepreneur announced she would seek the Progressive Conservative nomination for the Burlington seat in the provincial legislature that is vacant now that Joyce Savoline has ended her term.
Long time Burlington resident, and currently the Director of New Business Development for PLAY Advertising, Jane is also an entrepreneur, recently launching her own company, Rainmaker Consulting.
The Tory standard bearers came out for McKenna in her announcement. “She is a born leader, an amazing promoter and truly a ‘dog with a bone’ on any project she takes on,” said Kathy Thomas, owner of the Bronze Frog Gallery and President of the Rotary Club of Burlington Central. “If Jane can’t get it done … it can’t be done.”
 A ward 1 candidate in the last municipal election McKenna has decided to move higher up the food chain and seeks the Burlington Progressive Conservative nomination. So far she is running against Brian Heagle who has been patiently waiting for an opportunity to rub the Liberal red off his hide. Mike Wallace, MP Burlington: “Jane McKenna is an intelligent, hard-working and high energy individual. I have known her for many years. She is an active and valuable volunteer in our community. Jane understands the needs of families and small business in Burlington. She will be a dynamic and effective voice for Burlington at Queen’s Park.”
Keith Strong: “Jane is a hardworking individual who always finishes what she starts. She is a dedicated professional who works well alone, but she is also an excellent team player. Jane leads by example. I am proud to have worked with Jane.”
There are now two announced progressive Conservative candidates for the Burlington seat. The Liberals nominated Karmel Sakran and the NDP nominated Peggy Russell.
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By Staff
 BURLINGTON, ON June 27, 2011 – Just a few days left to send in your nomination for someone whose garden you think should receive a Civic Rose Award. Deadline is June 30th – forms have to be post marked June 30 – wait a minute – there is a postal strike that won’t be completely over for a few days. What do I do now ?
Fear not, the Civic Rose Award group have a solution for you – send in your nomination electronically using the email address shown below.
The award is in its 32nd year, first awarded by the city’s Parks and Recreation department to recognize gardens that can be seen from the street that make our community the beautiful place it is.
Click on each picture to view the slideshow of 2010 winners
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There are households in Burlington that have a collection of the plaques that denote a winner and some years that see some very competitive gardening on some streets in the city. The 2010 winners are shown below.
If you want to nominate a neighbour, or yourself if you wish, click here to get the form and then send it electronically to bcrawards@yahoo.ca
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By Pepper Parr
 BURLINGTON, ON June 24, 2011 – The Council Committee that accepted a report on the status of the Brant Street Pier did struggle with the information in the report and the process the city administration was going through – it wasn’t a pretty picture.
Some background: The humongous amount that has been put on the table is the city’s guestimate as to what it is going to cost to complete the Pier, or put another way, it is the amount the city is prepared to pay to have the job completed.
 Not much work done recently – and we won’t see any work done until the fall – and even then there won’t be people on the Pier with hammers and drills. Expect them on site in the Spring of 2012 – if the taxpayers haven’t run Council out of town. Several Council members wondered why the city would say what it is prepared to pay before they ask contractors to bid. One might expect the contractors who are going to bid to offer to do the job for just what the city said it is willing to pay.
City Manager Roman Martiuk explained that “it is the practice for cities to say what they have budgeted so that the construction industry knows we are serious.”
Tom Eichenbaum explained that the consultants involved in the prequalification work are winnowing down a list of 11 contractors who have expressed interest and will come up with a list of eight contractors who will be given a tender package.
 It will look just great when it is finished – now if we can find a way to get through the complaints that are going to come flooding in between now and then. The Mayor has visions of Fireworks from the Pier on Canada Day and during the Sound of Music in 2013. A tender package is the document sets out in minute detail what it is the city wants to buy from them. The contractors take that document and have six weeks to come back with their best offer for the job. The city will review the tenders and is then required to give the job to the contractor who comes forward with the lowest price. Will any one of the contractors that decide to tender come in below what the city has said it has budgeted? There are eight of them competing for the job and if they want it they have to have the lowest price. You know where the price is going to come in don’t you? Car dealers do it to you all the time – they call them “upgrades”.
What was interesting to watch during committee discussion was how little several of the Council members knew about the tendering process – and that includes the Mayor. They had all kinds of questions – which was good – but it might have been better had the asked for a Workshop to get fully briefed. It would have been fine with us if they had gone into closed session to do that.
 Our troubles began the day the crane went over and it has been angst and financial grief ever since. The city engineer, Eichenbaum, made a comment that we found astounding. He said that he was marginally involved with the selection of the contractor the first time around and that it was “fairly cursory” process and no one picked him up on it. To be fair the city had done work with Harm Schilthuis and Sons before and they perhaps felt that they could trust this company to complete the job. The forgot that Ronald Regan phrase: “Trust but verify.”
Well they are certainly verifying this time around and at considerable expense to the city given the cost of the two consulting firms brought in to see the engineering department through this situation, We don’t know yet what that additional cost is going to be nor do we know what the legal costs are going to amount to. Given the way our legal department tends to hide things we may never know.
Mayor Goldring wanted to be certain that we were not about to make another mistake because this is now on his plate, so he asked that there be a Staff Direction to review the tender process so that Council can “quantify and review the differences between what we did last time and what we are doing this time.” Those are questions the Mayor could have asked when he was the Council member for Ward 5.
The way city committees work is to react to reports that come from Staff. Mayor Goldring moved that the report be accepted along with its recommendations. In doing so he commented that “we are not out of the woods by any stretch”.
Part of what is going to keep this Council in the woods, and probably the woodshed with the taxpayers, is the discussion that took place around adding features to the Pier. You read that right – ADDING features – but only if they can be added without any additional costs. It seems people at City Hall believe there really is a free lunch.
 Mother nature created this nice little beach for us – and now the engineers want to construct a stairway from the deck to the water level. Why not just open up the anchor chain on the Promenade to the water level. What will you bet that there is an insurance reason for not being able to do that? Here is what they want to add. Again,, some background. Many people thought there would be provision and a place for people to tie up their boats. Nope, that was not in the plan. However, when the base part of the Pier was built the flow of water changed and the result is a small strip of sandy beach on the western side of the Pier right next to the beginning of the Spencer Park Promenade.
 That was a bit of a bonus Mother Nature gave us and the engineers have decided that it would be “nice” to have a small ramp from the top main deck of the Pier down to this small Beach and they drew into a set of plans what they had in mind. They did add that this would only be done if the bid from the contractor was within the budget the city has established. It seems that for city people the objective is to spend all the money and not come in well under the budget and effect a savings.
Councillor Jack Dennison made a significant point when he said “nobody can spend money like a municipality”. Well, Dennison and his six colleagues are the Council and they can, and in this instance, should say no.
There are some design problems with the Pier that is going to be built. They are small but they offer some insight into how this project was handled first time around. There are concerns with the height of the guard rail and the space at the bottom of the guard rail – they don’t want some toddler slipping through the edge and into the water some twenty feet below. Council committee got right down into the weeds on this one with Councillors Taylor and Dennison talking about how “kick plates” could be put in.
 The Pier was supposed to have “iconic” lights but a) there aren’t enough of them; b) they don’t make them anymore and we need at least three more and c) no one is sure where the ones we are supposed to have actually are. Figure that one out. The other problem was with the light standards which are apparently “iconic” – a much over used word these days. Twelve are needed and there are only nine and – are you ready for this – they don’t make them any more.
It gets better – they really don’t know where the original nine are. The hope is that they are somewhere – this is beginning to sound like a version of the Keystone Cops.
 The engineers thought a floating dock would be nice and they have just the place to put it. Dennison wants a much less expensive dock. Can we afford one at all? And there is more. The engineers want to put in a floating dock along side that natural beach that Mother Nature gave us and have talked to a company who has “just the thing” for us. Councillors Taylor and Dennison wanted to know why the city couldn’t get something similar to what Barangas on the Beach has in place. “It’s been there for years” explained Dennison. “I was looking at it recently and it’s just fine and it sits out on the lake and not tucked away in the lee of the Pier where it would be protected.” The engineers thought the city should have something a little more “substantial”. Dennison was right – they do know how to spend your money.
More yet folks. Turns out that the small stretch of land from the shore side end of the Pier to the beginning of the promenade wasn’t included in the original plan so something has to be done there and the thinking amongst the engineers was that a pathway identical in material to that used on the promenade should be built from the shore edge right up to the sidewalk level on Lakeshore. These are what Meed Ward used to call “nice to have’s” when she was running for Council.
When all these pretty little additions were being talk about there wasn’t a single word of indignation from Council – not even from Councillor Sharman, who does indignation real good.
Back to the money. The original funding sources for the $9,272,033. project budget was as follows
Senior government funding $4,356,230
Region of Halton $2,500,000
Burlington Hydro $ 100,000
Debentures $ 423,639
Park Development Charges Reserve Fund $ 46,000
Park Dedication Reserve Fund $ 242,964
Capital Purposes Reserve Fund $1,603,200
It is doubtful that Mike Wallace would succeed in getting the federal government to just forget about the money they gave us if we tore the Pier down – but what the heck – it wouldn’t hurt to ask. I mean we did return a Conservative to office, so they do owe us something.
The Region of Halton isn’t going to give us a break – if they did all the other municipalities in the Region would want the same break. I suppose if we said they had to have a Pier before they could get a break – naw that’s not going to work..
We own Burlington Hydro so maybe they would just write it off in return for our running their logo on the city web site.
Debentures: At least once a year the city, through the Region goes to the market to raise funds for specific projects. The Pier was one of the projects and that’s where this $423,639. came from. Maybe we should have gotten more?
The $46,000 we got from the Park Development Charges Reserve Fund, maybe they could just bury the amount and forget it. Same with the $242,964 and the $1,603,200 they was taken from different reserve funds. It’s our money so we can’t give it back to ourselves – can’t someone in accounting just erase the number from the ledger or cover it with white out. Isn’t that what accountants do? So, perhaps all is not lost
But it isn’t over yet – all the Committee did was accept the report – it does go to a full Council meeting July 4, where the final decision gets made. Will hundreds of annoyed taxpayers show up and demand that the city get real.
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By Staff
HALTON REGIONAL POLICE HEADQUARTERS – June 23, 2011 – Thursday is training day and for Juno and Constable Jamie Mitchell of the Halton Regional Police Service (HRPS). The Constable and the police dog are in training one day of every week.
“We do things over and over so that the dog never forgets what the commands are and we know we can rely on him to do what he was brought in to do”, said Mitchell.
 Juno does not let that rope go until Constable Mitchell tells him to. And then he reacts instantly. Good dog. The officer has complete control of the dog and while the animal is viscous and focused and he wasn’t prepared to let go of the rope the Constable was tugging at – one simple word – Kennel – and the dog slipped to the ground and walked directly to the back door of the police car and jumped in No whimpering, no looking back, no looking for a reward. A simple direct command and an immediate response.
Constable Mitchell maintains that dogs know 50% of what they do instinctively “They either have it or they don’t have it, and those that do become good police dogs”, he explained.
Juno, was wearing an orange vest because he had a pace maker on while he was being tested for reactions to different foods.
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON June 23, 2011 – Well, now we know. The city has budgeted $15,070,000 for the construction of the Pier at the foot of Brant Street; $3,474,000 more than was projected for the first attempt to get a landmark pier built.
The increased amount is what the city has budgeted but is not necessarily what it will cost to have the Pier completed. The city has pre-qualified 11 construction firms and expects that list to be cut down to eight firms that will have been pre-qualified to build.
Once the pre-qualification work has been completed the city will then issue tender packages and the pre-qualified firms will submit their bids later in the year.
The increased cost was a blow to this Council who had nothing to do with the development of the original plan to build the Pier. Four of the seven Council members, Councillors Craven, Taylor, Dennison and Goldring when he was a Council member, did sit on the Council that made the decision to build a Pier. Mayor Goldring pointed out that this project has been in the works for three terms of office. It started during the term of Mayor MacIsaac, got into construction while Cam Jackson was Mayor and is now in the hands of Rick Goldring who has to clean up the mess and make the best of what is on the table. Tearing down what has been built is an option but it will cost more to tear down what is in place than it will to complete the project
 It is probably going to cost an additional $3.5 million (for a total of $15,070,000) to complete the construction of the Pier at the foot of Brant Street which is reported to be less than the cost of tearing down what has been built. Many of the people in the City’s Engineering department who started this project are no longer on staff. Many in Burlington have said the Pier should be torn down. It will cost as much to tear down what has been built as it will cost to complete the project because the city would have to refund the various grants it has been given to the city.
Mayor Goldring fully expects there to be considerable reaction and public anger to the increase in costs. To his credit he has been firm in ensuring that this time the city administration does a better job of qualifying the firms that want to tender on the project.
The total cost of the Pier is now budgeted for $15,070,000 and that does not include what the city has spent on legal advise to sue the original contractor who walked off the job and the firm that designed the Pier. Those two cases are working their way through the judicial system and it will be years before there is a decision. The city could in time recover much of the cost and be awarded damages but this Council will not be in office when that happens.
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON June 23, 2011 -“The mantra” explained Councillor John Taylor was “no surprises” The comment was made during a portion of the Budget and Corporate Services Committee meeting at which Current Budget Variance reporting was being discussed. These meetings fall into the “watching paint dry” category but this one was in a league of its own.
Late last year Council got a severe jolt when they learned there was going to be a surplus in excess of $9 million – which while good news that allowed a lot of problems to be taken care of, nevertheless reflected really sloppy accounting.
Senior staff had good explanations that Council accepted. They wanted to ensure that this type of thing didn’t happen again.
Municipalities have access to some very advanced and sophisticated software and allow, if properly set up, for almost instantaneous data that tells senior staff if they have gotten the revenue they expected and if expenses were in line with the budget.
 Acting Executive Director Joan Ford has to deal with a Council that brings more financial heft than past Council’s to the Chamber. They will want her to sing different notes in the months ahead. Acting Executive Director Finance Joan Ford explained that processes have been improved to make financial information available in a more timely schedule. When there is a variance on either the revenue (your tax dollars) and expenses of more than $100,000. all kinds of red flags were to go up and reports made.
Councillor Dennison said he didn’t think the focus should be on an amount but rather than on the percentage of variance. A variance of $100,000 on a multi-million dollar project isn’t that worrisome but a variance of 15% on that multi-million dollar project matters.
Ms Ford undertook to ensure that the % of a variance was a key element in her reports.
What was disturbing – (is that the right word ?) was that financial data for the period ending June 30th isn’t available until the end of August – and that seems like a long time.
Every household opens the envelope with the credit card statement and knows within six days after the end of the month what is due. So why can’t city hall with all the software and computing power it has not get reports out with ten days of the close of a month?
The finance department produces semi annual reports and needs at least two months to get data into the hands of the people who make the decisions. They also produce a quarterly – top line report that gets into the hands of the decision makes “in about a month or two”.
The little guy who takes in the dry cleaning and shirt laundering that every member of council and staff spend some of their money on knows by the end of the day what his sales are and if they were high enough and sometimes all they have is a pencil and a pocket calculator.
 Councillor Craven tends to look for the smaller but nevertheless telling detail and has asked for data on the number of staff vacancies. He doesn’t want a repeat of the gapping fiasco of last year. Someone on this Council should be asking for a very detailed explanation as to why numbers aren’t available within two weeks of each month end. General Motors can do it; the banks do it and they work in billions and in several different currencies.
Councillors Taylor, Sharman and Dennison all know how critical a financial report is. Hopefully their experience and financial acumen will result in their insisting on more timely financial reporting.
Taylor put it perfectly when he said – “early warming please” – “be honest and no more waiting until the end of the year.”
One of the reasons for the surplus last years was the number of hires that were not made even though funds for the hire were in the budget. Councillor Craven wanted a bit of a heads up and asked Roy Male, Director of Human Resources to let him know how many vacancies there were and which vacancy was the oldest.
This Council is going to actually count the beans and not leave that task to just the bean counters.
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By Staff
 BURLINGTON, ON June 21, 2011 – How much is a tree worth? You can buy a slip of a tree for just over a hundred dollars and if you take care of it in time it will grow into something absolutely wonderful and provide shade and take Co2 out of the air as well.
But what if you wanted to cut down a tree? And what if that tree was on city property. Different situation and bigger dollars as well.
The Reichmann Seniors Housing Development Corporation approached the Planning and Building department with a site development plan for a property they had acquired to build a two structure retirement home located on the south side of Pine Street between Pearl and Elizabeth.
The plans are for a nine and a 14 storey tower. Previously there was a three storey retirement home and a hair dresser on the property. The development was proceeding well and it was time to get the site plan approved. The developers wanted to remove some trees that were on city land.
You can’t just take down a tree in Burlington and if it is on city property – then you get permission and you pay a fee. How big a fee? A BIG fee.
 One of these will be saved – the others are to come down at a cost of $19,780. to the developer who will replace the trees when the two tower retirement home is completed. The Reichmann’s want to take out three trees from the south of Pine Street and seven trees from the west side of Pearl; almost opposite where the Pearl Street Café was located. We are going to lose a Norway Maple, a Sliver Maple and a Black Walnut along with a handful of smaller trees that are still very young. One of the tress that will get taken down is in pretty rough shape.
The developer will pay the city a fee of $19,780.00; remove the trees and when the project is completed plant new trees based on the city’s Streetscaping standards.
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON June 21, 2011 – John Taylor was not having a good evening. He had spent more than three hours talking about snow removal at a city council committee meeting on a day when the temperature was, in what he would call, the mid 80’s. His demeanor during the afternoon session was typical John Taylor – he asked probing questions and reminded staff members of things about snow removal they had forgotten about. Taylor is a fixture in the Council chamber.
But in the evening session we got to see a much different councillor. Taylor was ticked, and this is not a man one wants to trifle with. Late last week council members were given a report from a consultant the city had hired to give them data on what they called TZ’s – traffic zones, No one managed to define what a traffic zone was and for a short while it didn’t appear to really matter.
 John Taylor, the most senior member of Burlington city council is usually a jolly fellow with a quick smile, can also be very pensive and reflective. He was not flashing any smiles at a Community Development Committee meeting last Monday. Then a more detailed consultants report was put on the table. It’s purpose was to explain to council members what the city actually had in the way of employment land inventory. Now this get’s just a little complex.
There is land in the city that is zoned for buildings that people will work in and there is land that is zoned for houses people will live in. Developers make more money on houses people live in so they look for ways to have their land zoned for housing.
Burlington has a couple of developers who happen to own a lot of land. The Molinaro Group is one and Paletta International is another. The Paletta’s bought some land many years ago and have been holding it and waiting for an opportunity to develop the land and reap the return on their investment. Land that factories and office building are built on is called “employment lands” and that is what the Community Development Committee of Council focused on Monday evening. How much do we have and is it enough to meet future needs
Developers usually hire planning consultants to take their case before city council and Monday night was no different. Ed Fothergill, a fully qualified planner licensed to practice in Ontario, has in the past represented numerous developers. He is a very effective presenter who usually finds a way to be the last person to speak. He never demands, he is always open to discuss things and seldom wavers from what his client has sent him to council to do. The developers get good value for the fees they pay Ed Fothergill.
He was delegating to advise Council that land they had shown as development land was in fact not really development land but property that was not yet determined and the developer wanted to keep it that way. They wanted to keep all their options open with a distinct preference for housing development. Fair enough.
 Taylor can remember a time when Dundas was the outer edge of development for Burlington. Then, he will tell you, the 407 came along and that moved the boundary out just a bit more and Taylor feels that the much discussed Niagara GTA highway that the province wants to push through the escarpment would be the end of rural Burlington. To add to his woes, Taylor feels developers want to exploit some data that consultants have put forward that suggests the city has more than enough in the employment lands inventory. Taylor isn’t buying it and he is totally ticked. Then another consultant made a delegation. This fellow had been hired by the city to do a two phase report on just what existed in the way of development lands in the city. The reason for wanting this information was so that the city could ensure there was enough land for the factories or office buildings to go up that would ensure Burlington could create the jobs it had to create to meet the provinces Places to Grow program.
Now here is where it gets interesting. While we’ve not had a chance to fully evaluate the report – we’ll get that to you in a couple of days – what became quickly evident was that Burlington has more than enough land in the “employment lands” category to meet the long term needs.
That was all the developers needed to hear. The developers were now prepared to argue that ‘if there is more than enough land to meet the longer term needs of the commercial market, then release some of the land we own that is classified as development land, and let us develop houses on that property’. You see, housing development is a lot more profitable than office and manufacturing development.
And John Taylor wanted none of that. He wasn’t buying the developers arguments and he wanted to be darn sure that the city was never at a point where the land needed to create the jobs the city has to create is not available
Taylor harrumphed for a good part of the meeting and after listening to the consultants asked that Council committee go into Closed Session to attempt to figure out what the city should do. That’s when everyone is asked to leave the Council Chamber while the committee discusses things in private. One never knows what they say – there is usually a direction for the lawyers to do something but even what they are asked to do is confidential. We’ve had this beef with the city’s legal department before.
The planner the city had hired was careful to qualify his remarks and while he did say there appeared to be enough employment land to meet needs out to 2031 – he advised that the city needed to be very careful about how it used the employment land inventory it did have.
 Paletta International, a company with large land holdings in Burlington and the developer of some of the larger housing developments constantly tangles with the city over land use issues Angelo Paletta is on the left. But Taylor could see the writing on the wall and he happens to have a very good memory. He knew exactly what the developers were going to do next and it didn’t surprise him one but that there were representatives from two developers making delegations. When the first, Ed Fothergill, had completed his remarks Taylor said aloud: “The games have begun.” He knew exactly where this was going and he didn’t like the direction one bit.
Burlington has been kind to its developers but for Taylor losing precious employment lands would put the city at a serious long term risk. That’s what the city’s planning consultant was saying but the developers weren’t listening – they heard that there was more than enough development land in the inventory and they wanted some of it released for housing.
The games have indeed begun. We have more for you later in the week on this one.
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON June 20, 2011 It was a somber Sunday morning service as Pastor Mike Pawelke preached the final service at the Eaglesfield Campus of Compass Point Bible Church in Burlington.
What began as the Brant Bible church is now just a faded sign hidden amongst trees that have grown around it. The congregation of the Eaglesfield Road church will move to Kerns road and worship there.
The church, built by a group who were market gardener’s and decided they wanted to build a church which they called Brant Street Bible Church, grew to the point where they needed a bigger location and purchased a piece of property at Eaglesfield and Dundas. “There was a time when the place was packed”, said Tom Warner. “We had three services and the parking lot was always full.” Today the Eaglesfield location is still a healthy church with an established congregation that holds a traditional service. Doug Agnew is the Pastor at what is now known as the Eaglesfield campus of Compass Point Bible Church.
Park Avenue Bible Church was another small Burlington church that grew and moved to a location on Kerns Road where a mammoth structure was built. Complications occurred with the Pastor at the time and the Park Avenue congregation entered into a strategic ministry partnership with Brant Bible Church to create Compass Point Bible Church.
 A mammoth structure that dominates the skyline and has three levels of parking with a large sanctuary that includes two television cameras that broadcast the service. Costs of repair a roof and accumulated debt plus operating expenses resulted in the consolidation of two congregations into the one building.
The Kerns Road structure is a very large with extensive facilities and is one of the mega churches that became popular in the United States. Pastor Pawelke has always been a proponent of the mega church which fairly describes the Kerns Road campus of Compass Point. It is a mammoth building with a very, very large sanctuary that has two television cameras set up within the sanctuary to capture and broadcast the service which is available on line.
Pawelke is a very strong pastor with a staff that gets close to 12 people and three congregations that have a combined operating budget in excess of $1 million. The third is an outreach church is a distressed part of Hamilton on Ellis Street.
Each of the churches is a separate legal entity that have banded together to offer services as the Compass Point Bible Church. The organizational structure is a little confusing to outsiders and a difficult one to finance and administer for insiders. The financial difficulties began to overwhelm and some drastic steps were necessary.
Recent costs to repair the roof and upgrade the HVAC system at the Kerns Road campus cost the church in excess if $850,000 which was a bit more than the community could handle
The Compass Point Church Board decided that some changes had to be made and they decided to sell the Eaglesfield property and have that congregation meet at Kerns Road for an 11:00 am service while the Kerns Road congregation holds their much more modern service at 9:30 am
A sum has been set aside to upgrade the parking facilities at the Kerns Road campus so that the Eaglesfield choir will have space and allow for easier access to the Kerns Road building for the older population that attended Eaglesfield.
 The Hamilton Korean Presbyterian Church will move its congregation into the Eaglesfield Road church where its youth groups and high school students will have better facilities and a 6:00 am service Compass Point will share the Eaglesfield campus with the Koreans for a period of time and hold events on Tuesday’s and Thursday. The Pastor of the Hamilton Korean Presbyterian Church told the Eaglesfield congregation that there would be some immediate changes when the Korean congregation moved in. The name on the building would change and Korean Pastor told the congregation that there would be a 6:00 am service.
That level of congregational involvement might explain why the Koreans have grown to the point where they needed a bigger location and why Compass Point has to retrench two locations into just the one.
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By Staff
 BURLINGTON, ON June 18, 2011 – Friday evening and they strolled by the thousands into Spencer Smith park and took in the sounds – and the sounds were loud, and the applause appreciative and the weather more than accommodating.
 They were raucous, they were outrageous and the crowd loved them. The woman playing the banjo certainly knew how to get the sound she wanted out of the instrument and the Ladies of the Canyon from Montreal knew how to play to the crowd who just loved them. That banjo player convinced a member of the audience to loan her the bubble making toy she had and the musician then proceeded to prance around the stage blowing bubbles everywhere. It was a fun evening.
The Ladies of the Canyon, an all female group out of Montreal, played a version of “The day they drove old Dixie down” that just rocked the crowd.
As the group was bringing their session to an end a three masted “privateer’ slowly slipped into the waterfront and fired a cannon shot. The sharp crack of the cannon brought the crowd to their feet but it appears it was just a warning shot. The ship didn’t drop anchor and they didn’t send anyone ashore. And she didn’t fly any signal flags – and thank goodness, no one ashore flew a white flag.
There is no count yet as to how many pints of beer were served but there didn’t appear to be anyone who had had to many pints. The crowds – and there were crowds, were well behaved
 The Ferris wheel and the other rides gave the Sound of Music Festival a bit of a country fair feel. The view of the grounds and the city at night is quite something from the top of the Ferris wheel.  Some people just stand out in a crowd. The woman in white wasn’t missing a word the Ladies of the Canyon were singing. She didn’t seem to be aware that there were other people in the park. That’s my babe.  The crowds took it all in. They listened quietly and then erupted into applause when a piece was finished. Many people brought their collapsible chairs and settled in for an evening of just fine entertainment that ranged from heavy metal (too loud for me) to nice easy going country and western and even some decent blues.  Few people saw the three masted ‘privateer” slip into the waterfront from behind the yet to be completed Pier. She crept in close to the breakwater then fired a single shot from her cannon and then turned away from the city and slipped back to her home port. Was she from Hamilton? More likely Toronto. Look for your city Council to discuss what the city might need in the way of troops to defend the city. [retweet]
By Pepper Parr
 BURLINGTON, ON, June 17, 2011 – The cheque was in the mail but it was pretty small ($257,000) and represents less than the interest earned on the money the city of Burlington has set aside for the hospital.
Health is a provincial responsibility but this provincial government has let the hospitals know that some of the money needed to keep hospitals operational and able to handle the growing number of people who now need and will need health services in the future as our population ages.
 The JBMH expects to get quite a bit more money from the provincial government which when added to what the city of Burlington has already set aside will result in more parking space and additional operating rooms. Burlington currently has $3,668,88.001 the JBMH reserve fund at the end of December 2010 with an additional $1.2 million going in during 2011 – which will take the total to $4,886,881.00
Last year the city of Burlington did much better than it expected on its investments which resulted in a surplus for the 2010 fiscal year. If the managed to earn as much as 5% on their cash investment (not likely – but w dream can’t we?) the interest Burlington will earn on the funds it has in its reserve fund would be greater than what the province has sent our way.
The money the city has set aside came from: $1.2 million from the 2009 surplus, $1.2 million from 2010 property taxes, $1.2 million from the 2010 surplus and $1.2 million is being levied in 2011 property taxes.
There is a provincial election on the horizon and one of the questions you will want to ask the candidates (Karmel Sakran for the Liberals and it looks like Peggy Russell for the NDP and Brian Heagle who is certainly hoping that his hat is the only one in the ring when the Progressive Conservatives eventually get around to calling a nomination meeting.)
Karmel Sakran has served on a number of hospital boards and committees and is certainly well aware of what the hospital is up against in terms of funding. Would he be an independent enough member of the Legislature to fight his party for the betterment of the community or will he toe the party line?
Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital has had its share of problems in the recent past and it needs to upgrade its facilities and expand the operation.
This measly little amount from the province is being “provided for a variety of structural upgrades” – whatever that means. – as well as “improvements to comply with health and safety standards”. JBMH might choose to invest in barrels of soap to avoid another c-difficile outbreak.
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By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON June 17, 2011 – Holtby and Crosby Streets run south from Caroline down to New Street. They were built about 50 years ago and had never had any re-surfacing or upgrades done and they were in pretty rough shape. Years of complaining and the city finally got around to putting these two streets on the list and work was scheduled for the spring. More than $900,000 was budgeted fir the work.
 Getting in and out of the driveway when the street is under construction is a challenge. Holtby residents struggle with this one. And now the work is getting done. And the good people of Holtby are basically landlocked. They can’t get their cars into the driveways and walking down the street is a bit of a challenge. But they will soon have a nice new shiny road. Your tax dollars are at work.
For those on Crosby Street – you’re next.
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By Pepper Parr
 BURLINGTON, ON June 15, 2011 – Alton, a neighbourhood in the upper east part of the remaining developable lands in Burlington where a number of construction projects are underway, was the site of a sod turning ceremony with Mayor Rick Goldring and the Ward council member for that part of town, Blair Lancaster on hand to dig a little dirt.
 Construction crews can now get onto the sit and begin shaoing it as a soccer field and a play area with plenty of shade trees and parking. The site that construction crews were finally able to get to into now that the sun is drying up the fields will be home to a soccer field a playing field with plenty of parking spaces and some housing along one edge.
The street leading into the soccer field, Palladium Way is separated by a stretch of employment lands, that have yet to be developed, and the 407 on the north with the project itself east off Walkers Line and north of Dundas. Residents in the area have been waiting for the soccer fields to get built and if the weather holds those fields should be accessible well before the kids are back in school.
 Always making a fashion statement – the pink boots Councillor Lancaster wears on a construction site turn an eye just as well as the tiara did. These “ceremonial events” are pretty hum drum but if you pay attention there is usually something that can be picked up for what the politicians call the “photo op”. In this situation the photographer from “another news source that get published in Burlington” wanted to frame people in front of a large crane. Here is their intrepid photographer in action.
Becky Ellis, a city landscaping technician was on hand to show the Mayor and the Council member around the site which has houses within a very short distance allowing parents to wander over to the park and playfield where there children are.
What was missed and so typical of what Councilor Lancaster does(she does have a sense of fashion) were the pink construction boots she wore on the site.
The neighbour hood is going through significant growth – a storey we will tell you about later in the month.
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON June 13, 2011 It was a particularly graceless s remark, made by a Council member filling in as deputy for the Mayor while he was out of town meeting with officials in Portland Oregon.
When the Mayor is away a member of Council serves as the deputy for the Mayor. Last week Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward was filling in for Mayor Goldring at a Senior Citizens event that had an official from the Bank of Canada teaching seniors how to detect counterfeit money.
Meed Ward arrived a bit early and mingled with people she recognized and “worked the room”. The afternoon meeting was brought to order and Meed Ward approached the lectern to say a few words – which she did. She explained that the Mayor could not be with them that afternoon – but didn’t say a word as to why the Mayor was not able to be on hand. She left the distinct impression that the Mayor didn’t have time for this group when there was an opportunity for Meed Ward to say a few words about where the Mayor was and what he was doing.
 Meed Ward works the room and listens to the qualms and concerns of a senior citizen. She could have referred to the messages the Mayor had sent to Facebook friends, which Mayor Goldring sent every day he was away and which Meed Ward logs into at least once every day and leaves a message of her own. She is the most effusive Facebook user on Council.
There was an opportunity for this Council member to tell the room of senior citizens where the Mayor was, what he was doing and how his trip to Portland could impact the lives they lived.
But Meed Ward chose to let the opportunity pass. More than one Council member has commented on the difficulty they have with Meed Ward and her tendency to carve out her own path through the jungle of municipal affairs. She is the boldest member of this Council and has brought about, and no doubt will continue to bring about, good changes. Her work on getting the Planning department to come up with better scheduling of community meetings so that citizens have enough time to consider development reports and the fuss she made over the Section 37 agreements the city gets into are all more than applaudable.
But grace and a sense of sharing the load with her fellow Council members has so far eluded Marianne Meed Ward. Her inability, so far, to engage her fellow Council members is regrettable.
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON June 9, 2010 – It was a Celebration and all the people who do business in this town were on hand to recognize a member of their community who got out of high school because he cut a deal with his principal and went to create a trucking company with a name everyone recognizes –”If it’s on time it’s a Fluke” and a whistle that is blown in more than 100 countries around the world.
This was Ron Foxcroft’s night and he reveled in every minute of it and said Thank You to those who helped him get to where he is as often as he mentioned the Fox40.
 Mayor Rick Goldring and his wife lead the procession into the convention hall followed by Ron Foxcroft, 2011 Entrepreneur of the Year and his wife Marie. The room was packed: 572+ people were in the room to honour Foxcroft as the Burlington Entrepreneur of the Year and install him in the Burlington Entrepreneurial Hall of fame.
All the movers and shakers were on hand. Members of Council, former Lt Governor Lincoln Alexander, who is looking pretty good. Can Jackson made one of his first public appearances since the election and was in fine form.
Connie Smith – The CHCH Good News Girl – who let everyone know she was a graduate of Nelson High, MC’d the event. Mark Cohon, Commissioner of the Canadian Football League was on hand and Angelo Mosca made the evening a true sports evening.
Marie, wife of the guest of honour was there along with their three sons.
A piper brought the dignitaries into the hall and Connie Smith even got some in the audience to toast the Queen. Thought that went out in the 50’s but then maybe Connie is a 50’s kind of gal.
Everyone in the room had a Fox40 whistle beside their cutlery. You can imagine what kind of an evening it was.
Someone should tell Foxcroft that the 500 whistles given away don’t counts as sales; he has a tendency to stretch a number just a wee bit.
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON June 9, 2011 – You can take the boy out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the boy, which is part of the reason Ron Foxcroft will be recognized as the Burlington Entrepreneur of the Year Thursday evening. Foxcroft tells people he lives in Aldershot – it’s where he parks his Mercedes at night.
Foxcroft will join Michael Lee Chin, Harry Voortman, Mark Chamberlain, Michael deGroote Sr., Ron Joyce and Murray Hogarth, previously recognized entrepreneurs who built their organizations from a small idea into a substantial organizations that employ hundreds of people.
 Millions sold in more than 100 countries. The Fox40, a Canadian product that dominates its market worldwide – made in Canada as well. The now near legendary tale of the 1984 pre-Olympic basket ball game in Sao Paulo Brazil when the pea in the whistle he was using as referee got stuck and he wasn’t able to make a call and the fans rioted. Foxcroft, who makes decisions as fast as you can turn a dime, resolved to make a whistle without a pea in it and found a designer who would take on the task. Three years and $150,000 later ( which he didn’t have at the time) and there were two prototypes. Chuck Sheppard stuck with him and today that whistle is sold in more than 100 countries. They manufacture 40,000 of the whistles in a day
When the prototypes were ready Foxcroft and his wife Marie, who counts the cash for the company, traveled across the country to sell the whistle. Two months later – and zappo, not a single sale. “Marie told me I had the two most expensive whistles in the world – $75,000 apiece.
 Foxcroft is no fool though – he knew the whistle was what the sports community needed and decided to catch the ear of the guys who would actually use the thing and attended a convention of sports referees – slipped into the hallway at two in the morning and walked around just blowing the whistle. Angry faces popped out of doors and Foxcroft had there attention and sales bean rolling in. There was no looking back after that stunt and today the whistled is used by not only sports people but by the US Coast Guard and numerous other organizations. You see the things in small water craft everywhere – legally every boat on the water is supposed to have a whistle.
It has become the whistle of choice for the world’s pro-sports leagues and minor league officials alike. Why is it called the Fox40? “I was 40 years old when the whistle was made.”
It is used by the NHL, NBA, NFL, CFL, NCAA, FIFA, and FINA. Because its effectiveness is not altered by water, it has been endorsed by the U.S. Coast Guard, Royal Life Saving Society of Canada, American Red Cross, NATO forces, and many more organizations.
Being a basketball referee was a full time job for Ron and that allowed him to get into other businesses without needing to take an income from the companies he was building. But serving as a basketball referee meant 35 years of being away from home far too many Saturday nights. You pay a price for that kind of thing.
He bought Fluke Transportation from the Fluke brothers (actually he conned them into selling to him because he knew they wanted out of the business) and because he didn’t have any money they took back a mortgage on the rolling stock, which at the time was three trucks. He guaranteed Bobbie Fluke a job for life and was now in the transportation business where he drove the tractors, loaded the trucks and made sales calls.
Foxcroft bought the rolling stock and also bought the name of the company which he turned into one of the best known corporate logos in the business: If it’s on time, it’s a Fluke. The best sale Foxcroft ever made was on the telephone on the Friday of a holiday weekend. The caller needed 30 trucks at a location Tuesday morning, explained Foxcroft, and wondered if I had any equipment. “I asked how many trucks they needed and they said 30 and I said where do you want them.” Foxcroft didn’t have 30 trucks but he had chutzpah and he had friends in the trucking business. That call from Proctor and Gamble 30 years ago paid off – they are still a client today.
Shortly after he bought the truck fleet from Newman Steel – again with no money. “Benny Newman wanted out of the trucking business so I bought his 20 trucks and he gave me a contract to cart steel for him. The revenue from the steel hauling covered the mortgage payments.” A classical Foxcroft purchase. What made it work was his commitment to never fail and his drive to keep his customers.
Foxcroft does client relationships like few others. The art of the deal – not the slick deal but the kind of deal where the solutions aren’t all that obvious. And THAT may be why Foxcroft is gong to be honoured Thursday evening because it was Christmas Eve of 2010 that Foxcroft called together a group of people to talk about the Hamilton Tiger Cats moving to Aldershot. Foxcroft knew all the players and he was prepared to not only referee but have some skin in the game as well. Time was of the essence and so the Christmas Eve call was made and the Paletta’s, our newly minted Burlington Mayor Rick Goldring and the people from the Tiger Cats gathered “right in this room – Pat Paletta sat right there”, said Foxcroft as he slapped his hand on the small boardroom table “and we ironed out the basics.”
There was a lot of skepticism about the deal at the time and the deadlines didn’t help but the idea that a massive sports complex could have been built doesn’t look as far fetched today when we see an NHL team going to Winnipeg and even the league mumbles about a second team in the GTA market. Foxcroft will tell you that it was a missed opportunity and that the decision to stay in Hamilton was a dumb business decision.
 He might be impulsive but he knows what he’s doing when he lines up a shot. Foxcroft’s entry into the world of business and his ability to get faced to face with the people that run the Fortune 500 companies comes through his being a basketball referee. No one wanted him to referee anything but they did want tickets to games and that Foxcroft was able to deliver on
This is a guy who failed high school and went on to buy a business with a couple of dimes in his pocket. He is one of those self made entrepreneurs who learned to let people who know what their doing run a company – he doesn’t have to micro-manage today but you kind of know when it “hits the fan” Foxcroft is one of the first people in the room cleaning up
Foxcroft proudly tells you that the whistle was invented in Canada and is made in Canada and then asks: “How many companies can you name that dominate their field world wide, not many” he tells you. But the Fox40 dominates its field. Having a patent on the product sort of keeps others away.
Getting to where he is today was not an easy road. A driven man who knew he was on to something good – Foxcroft couldn’t keep his hands off the trucking company and he micro managed like crazy until he realized there was a problem and that it was him.
That was the day he began to very difficult transition that many entrepreneurs fail to get through –letting the dream go and allowing others with different skills take the helm. Foxcroft made the transition. He learned to hire people who “were smarter than I am and then give them the room to do what they were trained to do.”
Foxcroft was the first, last and only Canadian to referee in the National College Athletic Association (NCAA). They don’t give out work permits for Canadians anymore he tells you. What he doesn’t tell people is that in 1999 he was inducted into the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame.
Foxcroft learned that people do take advantage. “Some people mistake fairness as weakness. Good relationships, or even great relationships, can turn sour, and you must provide for it in your plans. I am very cautious, but not to the detriment of a good deal. I learned that I was a very impatient person that needed to learn not to be impulsive.”
 He can sink a ball and he can chase a ball. And if you’d like to see how he does it – pay him a visit at his Stoney Creek office where he will play a quick game with you on the small court on the ground floor. The Foxcroft group of companies use all the technology that is available to modern business organizations. “We can track everything, we know what has been sold and we know our costs down to the dime – that all part of doing business but what I regret” said Foxcroft “is that we are losing the art of communicating. Email is fine but it isn’t communicating. We need to put more emphasis on people to people communications skills.”
And that is what you can expect to hear from Ron Foxcroft when he stands before his peers at the Burlington Convention Centre and gets placed into the Burlington Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. “This ain’t about me” Foxcroft will tell you; “this is an evening to tell young entrepreneurs never to give up on the dream and to be who you are while you build great corporations.”
Today Foxcroft is still impulsive – but cautiously impulsive. He will jump into an idea if he thinks it has a chance – if an attempt to bring the Tiger Cats to Aldershot wasn’t impulsive then nothing is. He runs Foxcroft International, the whistle business from an office in Stoney creek; Foxcroft Capital is run out of an office in east Burlington and Fluke Transportation out of an office in Hamilton.
 Ask Foxcroft why he still pushes and why he even bothered to get into business and he will tell you openly: “It was hunger and fear.” The days of fear and hunger are gone but for Foxcroft it’s the challenge and “I’m having fun. The day I stop having fun, someone else will be at this desk”. Sounds like a pretty good exit strategy but don’t expect that to happen tomorrow.
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By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON June 7, 2011 – Give a kid a camera and you just never know what they will click away at.
Our Mayor got himself and his Missus a few days of R&R and set aside a few days for a stop over in Portland Oregon, – on his own dime by the way.
 Mayor Goldring appears to like the look of those LRT cars used in Portland. Would he run the things from the Burlington Mall to the Mapleview Mall? He is meeting with some of the pooh bahs in Portland and as they showed him around town he just clicked away. Here is what he thought we would be interested.
Transit has been an issue with city council and will become much more so as we go forward – even though some of the Mayor’s colleagues are
not on the same page as he is when it comes to who uses the transit we have, our Mayor wants us to know he is a very progressive thinker and popped us a picture of the rapid transit in Portland.
While Portland is fine city Burlington can most certainly hold its own. The mayor snapped a picture of a garden in Portland – pales in comparison to our Royal Botanical Gardens.
 This Portland Park is small potatoes when compared with out RBG.
 Well it might go somewhere on Brant Street – I suppose but we could import totem polls that would be more authentic.
And the street art in Portland ? Well, the Mayor should have snapped his Blackberry into over drive and flashed the pictures of our bicycle stands. We are miles ahead of those guys.
Our Mayor will learn a lot and we hope that he uses his time with those folks in Portland to let them know that Burlington is doing.
Amongst the pictures was one of the Rogers Centre in Vancouver. Did the Mayor score a pair of hockey tickets and manage to take in the game. That would have been a feat. We await his return to get the lowdown on our Mayor’s first venture outside the province. Tickets to a Stanley Cup game, we are impressed.
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