 By Pepper Parr
June 16, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
They settled it pretty quickly. There wasn’t a lot of serious or significant debate.
There were a lot of questions to staff on details and trustee Oliver from Oakville wanted to ensure that there was some rigid monitoring to see just what registration in the French Immersion program was looking like as parents register for the 2018-190 school year.
The trustees went with the Staff recommendation for the implementation of a French Immersion program that will start with students in grade two and begin in the 2018-19 school year.
Between now and then the board has to scramble to find the resources they will need to make it happen.
 The trustees voted unanimously to accept the staff recommendation for the rolling out of the French Immersion program. No one knows yet what the unintended consequences of hat decision might be. The gamble – and it became very clear during the discussion that the choice is a gamble
Staff is hoping that enough parents will decide that French Immersion may not be for their child and have their child remain in the core English program.
Director of Education Stuart Miller said that the recommendation has to reduce the number of people who want to put their children in French Immersion by at least 7.5% – he added that he would like to see that number reduced by 20%.
Stuart added that if the uptake for French Immersion does not come down by at least 7.5% “we are in trouble”
The Board faced a situation that has a huge number of people opting for the French Immersion program and that is putting pressure on the board at two levels:
Finding enough qualified French teachers
And leaving them with English classes with as few as five students – and that isn’t sustainable.
The choice the board has made is to move French Immersion as a program that begins in grade two where all instruction will be in French during the first year and decrease in grades three and four to the point where French takes up 50 of the class time.
 Associate director of Education David Boag – he got to carry the ball and explain all the ramifications to the trustees. Looking for a solution to a two pronged problem was a 15 month process that started with Stuart Miller and got passed along to David Boag when Miller was appointed the Director of Education.
There were 14 different options before the committee that was struck to delve into the problem. The committee whittled the 14 down to four and later added two as the process went forward.
The choice as a compromise for what everyone described as a “complex issue”.
Staff put their recommendations before the Board June 1st and gave the trustees three inch binders filled with data. Public delegations were heard on June 13th, there were just ten of them which one trustee said was a sign that the public was basically on side with the staff recommendation.
Notable was the board’s decision not to webcast the public delegations. Recording those delegations would have given the public an opportunity to see the breadth of public thinking – an opportunity lost.
Miller told the trustees that the decision they made will allow viable programs in both languages, and result in very few, if any changes in boundaries.
Students who are currently in a French Immersion will be grandfathered.
The trustees seemed to want to have a system where there is a core French program that introduces students to the language along with a French Immersion program for parents who want a richer French language experience for their children.
Many people look upon French Immersion as an approach some parents to give their children a bit of a leg up in getting a quality education and ensuring that their children are in classes where the quality of the education they get meets the child’s ability.
Miller told the trustees that there are currently 22 schools in the system that have less than 15 students in grade 1.
 Busing students to schools where the class size is sustainable is no an issue the trustees want to even think about. Those small classes go forward year after year – which is something the board cannot afford. To get larger class sizes busing becomes an option – and for those trustees who are advocates, passionate advocates, of students going to school in their neighbourhoods this wasn’t something they wanted to even talk about.
In setting the tone for the meeting, Miller pointed out that French Immersion is an optional program – that had grown to the point where it was seriously de-stabilizing the board’s ability to deliver programs in what trustee Reynolds (Burlington) pointed out is an English language board of education
Miller said they could not have an optional program impede the core English program.
The staff recommendation was expected to resolve the problem – that recommendation had a lot of crossed fingers attached to it.
The Board just does not know what parents are going to choose – the one year delay will, they are hoping will give parents a chance to do some re-thinking.
There is however a very strong well organized lobby for French Immersion The CPF – Canadian Parents for French has chapters all over the country and receives significant funding from the federal government. Their objective is to have the educational system produce bilingual students.
David Boag, Associate Director of Education is very clear when he says the French Immersion programs the Halton board offers does not produce bilingual graduates.
 Director of Education Stuart Miller didn’t miss an opportunity to let the trustees know what he wanted in the way of a decision on the French Immersion question. They went along with him. A student can earn a Certificate of competency in French – but that is a long way from being bilingual.
It is an ongoing situation – one that the board has to manage logistically and at the same time work with parents on both sides of the divide that sees passions rise from time to time.
What the parents want is the very best for their children – realizing that every child is different and that all should have the same opportunity with the limited resources available.
 This one isn’t over yet – the trustees bought some breathing time. Miller mentioned on a number of occasions that there might be some unintended consequences coming out of the decisions. He can almost bet the ranch on that observation becoming very real.
The trustees might manage to slip through the 2018 election because we probably won’t know the full impact of the decision by then.
 By Pepper Parr
June 16th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Burlington Transit reports: We have been having some issues with the software. It started last night and we have our vendor and IT people working on it. When we work out these issues it will work on all devices including phones,tablets and desk tops.
I have asked staff to update our web site and advise our customers that we are unfortunately experiencing some technical issues and be patient as we work through them.
Burlington Transit launches new mobile-friendly website with real-time data
Burlington Transit launched an improved, mobile-friendly website, which features real-time data for improved customer service.
It is all at www.burlingtontransit.ca
I wasn’t able to get the information I thought I was going to be able to get – like which busses I had to take to get from my building to a building somewhere else in the city.
 Transit is taking the available technology seriously. Making it really friendly right away would be nice. The transit people said: “This is a significant customer service milestone. In 2011, only 9.9 percent of our web traffic at BurlingtonTransit.ca was through a mobile device or tablet,” said Mike Spicer, director of Burlington Transit. “In the past year, our statistics show that over 53 per cent of our web visitors are using a mobile device, and we expect that number to grow even higher in the years to come.”
Percentages are always a bit mis-leading – there were no raw numbers given. But let’s give them a good mark for trying.
They key features of the new, mobile friendly website include:
• Trip Planner: Plan your trip online by entering an address, intersection, stop ID or searching by popular locations.
• Schedule Finder: View a route or stop-specific schedule online or print one to take with you.
• Next Bus: Get real-time departure information for any bus stop location online or by calling 905-639-0550 with the stop ID number. Users can also see a live map showing the exact location of their bus.
• Stop Finder: Find the best stop location to suit your needs. View a list of amenities available at each stop so you can plan your trip with comfort.
The next steps of the Smart Transit System project include launching a Burlington Transit Twitter account, an online subscription service and online Handi-Van trip booking.
In the very near future we will meet with the good people at Burlington Transit and get them to take us through the new system – once we understand it – we will explain it to you.
 By Staff
June 16, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
We apologize for not getting this news to you earlier – it did not come to our attention until late this afternoon.
Looks like an interesting event – the organizers appear to have slipped a little in getting the word out to the media.
 By Staff
June 15th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Glastonbury Drive, from street number 2293 to 2353, will be closed from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 16, 2016 for emergency storm sewer repair work.
 By Pepper Parr
June 15th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
At this point she has the right to be referred to as “The Honourable” – but Mary Eleanor McMahon has yet to get her calling card updated – it will be Eleanor McMahon for some time to come.
She arrived at the tea party she had scheduled for her seniors – well before she was appointed to Cabinet where she will serve as the Minister for Sport, Art and Culture.
 The Honourable Mary Eleanor McMahon -Provincial Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sports.
McMahon’s Mother stood with her as she was sown in – she had tears running down her face said McMahon. “I was worried about tripping over something.”
The oath was taken with her Bible in her hand – A Catholic Bible McMahon reminded people.
“I met with my deputy minister” said McMahon – “she is going to be great. I will get my first full length briefing on Thursday and then it will be me hitting the Briefing binders.”
McMahon has a couple of projects that will impact Burlington directly – “not going to tell you what they are” she said and then inadvertently mentioned a big one – I agreed to respect her “that was supposed to be off the record” request. It isn’t in the bag yet – but McMahon is pulling hard for this one. The history buffs will like it.
As for the tea party – it was a quiet event.
Small crowd but all the right well wishers were there.
By Pepper Parr
June 15th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Fifteen minute service during those hours when it count? That is in the planning stage
An additional GO station in Burlington – there are people who are out there scouting different properties.
Electrification of the GO system is also in the planning stages.
 Possible – probable? – location for a fourth GO station in Burlington. Walkers Line on the current StressCrete property Someone wants more of us to take the GO train – and for those poor soul who find themselves having to brave traffic on the QEW every day this must sound like some kind of an advertisement that you don’t think is really going to deliver on the promise.
But if the rumblings and the comments being made have any truth in them the GO people have begun to talk seriously on just where an additional GO station in Burlington might be located.
There was a lot of talk about an additional station be created at Cumberland and tying it into a grade separation at the same time.
The more recent talk seems to be on Walkers Line where Stress Crete is located,
Stresscrete is the company that makes light poles out of concrete. There is a large yard within their property that could be made into a GO station – far far too early to tell yet if that one will come to fruition.
 Upgrades to the south side parking and the entrance to the Burlington station have yet to be completed. There was a point at which even the Mayor couldn’t get a completion date out of the GO people. Given the rate at which the changes being made to the Burlington GO station that seem to be taking forever – there is no value in thinking about which station you would choose to use.
Whichever – expect whatever gets built to have all kind of electric charging stations to be part of the set up.
Change is coming in a big way.
 By Pepper Parr
June 15th, 2106
BURLINGTON, ON
I didn’t see the change – even though I was at the event where it was announced.
What I saw was an attractive corporate logo with a really catchy tag line;
Give brilliantly!
 The occasion was the launch of the tag line and the newly designed logo put together by Play advertising for the Burlington Community Foundation.
This was the organization that publishes a Vital Signs report on the health of the community.
This is the organization that manages a significant number of endowments created for some community based purpose.
This is the organization that hands out close to a million dollars each year to different community non-profit organizations.
This is the organization that hours after the flood of August 2014, went to work and 100 days later had just short of a million in the bank to hand out to peoples whose homes had been devastated.
I could go on – the word community appears in everything they do.
Thus it was surprising when a friend pointed out to me that word “community” had been dropped from the name – it was now to be the Burlington Foundation.
What?
 When asked for a comment and some clarity, president and CEO Collen Mulholland explained that “Burlington is, and always will be, a thriving community. The Foundation is an integral part — the fabric of the community — as Burlington’s sustainable giving foundation.
“We don’t feel it’s necessary to repeat the word community. We wanted to keep are refreshed brand name concise and memorable also using our new rallying cry and tag line, Give Brilliantly.”
“Hope this helps to clarify for you.”
It doesn’t – defining just who you are matters. Burlington Foundation could be a bank, a club a company that builds basements.
The Burlington Community Foundation tells me exactly what they do – and I applaud that heartily. Continue to Give Brilliantly – the community needs all the help it can get.
 By Pepper Parr
June 14th, 2106
BURLINGTON, ON
Langenburg, Saskatchewan has less than 12 streets and is bisected by the Yellowhead highway – if there was ever a face that goes with the story – the one about the farmer’s daughter – this is one of the better ones.
Jess Moskaluke, born June 4, 1990 is a Canadian country pop singer. She released her debut studio album, Light Up the Night in April 2014, which includes the Gold-certified single “Cheap Wine and Cigarettes”
 Take me home – when she begins this piece on the West Stage at the Sound of Music on Saturday night – expect the audience to roar. In June 2011, Moskaluke won the Next Big Thing contest, sponsored by Big Dog 92.7 and SaskMusic. In September 2011, she won the New Artist Showcase Award at the Canadian Country Music Association Awards. She was chosen to represent Canada at the Global Artist Party at the 2012 CMA Music Festival.
The people who promote artistic talent love to trot out all the awards and the billings they got – read them if that kind of thing works for you – better to take the fast route and go straight to her music. When she does Take me home – get close to the stage – this song has loads of emotion pouring out of those inviting green brown eyes.
She will be on the West stage of the sound of Music on June the 18th. Get there early with a comfortable chair. This one’s a charmer.
If you want a sample of what this Saskatchewan native is going to do to you – listen in.
Moskaluke’s debut single, “Catch Me If You Can”, was released on June 4, 2012. The song’s music video received regular airplay on CMT. It was followed by an EP, also titled Catch Me If You Can, which was released on September 4, 2012 by MDM Recordings and distributed by EMI Music Canada. Jeff DeDekker of the Leader-Post gave the EP four stars out of five, writing that “by using the full extent of her voice and also incorporating tenderness and fragility, Moskaluke is able to cover the complete spectrum of material.”
 This one’s a keeper – Jesse Moskaluke, came to us from the prairie – Saskatchewan Casadie Pederson of Top Country also gave the EP four stars out of five, calling Moskaluke “one of the best young talents we’ve seen in a long time.”[8] The EP’s second single, “Hit N Run”, reached the top 40 on the Billboard Canada Country chart in 2013. Moskaluke was named Female Vocalist of the Year at the 2013 Saskatchewan Country Music Association Awards.[10]
Moskaluke released the first single from her debut studio album, “Good Lovin'”, in October 2013.[11] It became her first single to reach the top 20 on the Billboard Canada Country chart. The album, Light Up the Night, was released on April 15, 2014. “Cheap Wine and Cigarettes” and “Used” were both released as singles from the album in 2014.
By Pepper Parr
June 14th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
He mentored her, he tutored her and he perhaps even scolded her from time to time.
She basically harassed him in 2014 when she wanted provincial money for the flood victims in Burlington
And so it came to pass – that he took that long walk into the dark night and she stood up and accepted the appointment to the Premiers Executive Council and is now a member of Cabinet. Two years ago she was an advocate for better bicycle safety.
Politics is a blood sport – it is not for the faint of heart.
 Ted McMeekin, the Liberal Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and the MPP for the riding next to us spoke for Burlington when we needed help. He is now just the MPP for Ancaster – there is still however, a lot of tread on those tires. Ted McMeekin put a wonderful spin on his “retirement” from Cabinet when he said: “Each time a man or woman stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he or she sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” He added – “I’m grateful to have sent my few small ripples into the current of this Province.”
McMahon gushed and in her typical manner kept saying how honoured she was to have been appointed. It is now time to lighten up on the gushing and the gee whiz stuff and get down to the business of legislating.
 Eleanor McMahon MPP for Burlington – now a member of the provincial cabinet McMahon will be spending much of the weekend going over the mandate letter that went with the job and then spending endless hours poring over briefing books.
Then she has to begin to think about how she wants to carry out the mandate she was given.
No more bootserism, no more yelps about how great it all is. Hard work, creative thinking and assembling the team she is going to need to get the job done.
With just two years’ experience as an active politician Mary Eleanor McMahon has her work cut out for her.
There are some very impressive pluses to the woman – she is one of the best political campaigners this reporter has seen – and I’ve seen a lot of them. She bonds with people – and the bonding is real. She likes people; she cares, really cares.
 The arts are now and tourism are now going to be front and center for the new minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport. She has already begun thinking of bike tours throughout the province. Kathleen Wynne saw something in McMahon when she personally asked her to run in Burlington and bring to an end more than 70 years of Tory rule. The confident the Premier had when she recruited McMahon is clearly still there – her choice wasn’t based on just gender.
McMahon now faces the challenge of proving the Premier to have been right; she knows what it is to face a challenge – but she isn’t alone facing this one.
By Pepper Parr
June 14th, 2106
BURLINGTON, ON
It was a quickie.
But a bit different in a couple of ways
At the regular meeting of city council – that lasted 28 minutes – Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward called for six recorded votes – a record for her. The idea became popular and Councillor Craven, Councillor Sharman and the Mayor asked for recorded votes as well.
 It was almost as if they didn’t want you to know who they are. Terrible picture quality. The city of Burlington just isn’t going to move to a technology that records every vote on everything at both Council and Standing committee meetings.
 The Board of Education visuals are much much better. The Halton District School Board has put technology in place that allows the trustees to press a bottom and within seconds the vote result appears on a screen that can be seen on the web cast as well.
 The close ups of Councillors are not any better. The pink jacket tells you she is Councillor Lancaster. The guy with the bling tells you which one is the Mayor. The city is also a bit of a laggard when it comes to the quality of their web casts, Compare the visuals we have provided – the school board cameras capture the expressions on the faces of the trustees – the city cameras let us know that Councillor Lancaster is wearing a pink jacket.
The city can do better – they just don’t want to – so much for genuine public engagement.
Councillor Craven reported that the public space at the corner of Plans Road and Waterdown is now complete – it took the unfortunate and some thought illegal expropriation, of the former Murphy’s convenience store to make this happen – but that is the price of progress. Craven told council the Aldershot BIA contributed $65,000 to the creation of the small plaza
Aldershot is getting another small space for the public to sit and watch the cars go by at the intersection of Plains Road and Francis – that should be in place by September,
 Commercial services at grade – we have yet to see any form of office space development – the place where all those quality jobs are going to be located. so far – it is just a place for people to live – a place that has neither a decent supermarket or an LCBO store. That isn’t living folks! The report identifies Ruth Victor & Associates as both the Applicant and the person who is representing the applicant. Ruth Victor is the planner who speaks for the ADI Group most of the time. June 22nd – there is a public meeting on the plans for an eight storey structure at Cooke Blvd Road and Plains Road East which Councillor Craven explained as an additional step in the creation of the economic hub that is coming into being in the Aldershot community.
 The existing is the convention centre – the proposed is the six storey hotel. Construction should start soon. A decent watering hole for the east end. The report identifies Ruth Victor & Associates as both the Applicant and the person who is representing the applicant. Ruth Victor is the planner who speaks for the ADI Group most of the time.
A six storey hotel adjacent to the Burlington Convention centre was approved – in record time gushed Councillor Sharman
By Staff
June 14th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
It’s not just in Spencer smith Park. It’s in the clubs as well.
Set out below are the locations for the Sound of Music Club Series today and tomorrow.
 The Queens Head – one o the six Sound of Music Club series locations.  The Dickens – will feature a couple of the Club Series performers Today and Wednesday.
By Staff
June 14th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
A picture is said to be worth 1000 words.
That just might be true with the picture set out below.
By Staff
June 14th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
It was Question Period in the House of Commons and Lisa Raitt wanted to make a point about pensions and what they did do to one’s wallet.
Mr. Speaker, next week the Minister of Finance is going to meet with his counterparts in the provinces and territories to sell them on his CPP scheme which would tax the average worker an extra $3,000 per year. This new payroll tax would kill 130,000 jobs in our country and it would permanently and significantly lower wages for our young people especially.
How does the Minister of Finance expect Canadian workers to save, start a family, or buy a home when he is increasing their taxes?
A few minutes later Raitt followed up with:
 Conservative MP Lisa Raitt asks a question during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Photo courtesy THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick Mr. Speaker, Canadians are rightly concerned. The impact of a fourth CPP expansion is going to be on their wallets.
The Minister of Finance has stated that a CPP expansion would be putting too many eggs in one basket. He also said that increasing the CPP would practically take the private sector out of the pension business.
My question is again for the Minister of Finance. Will he just abandon this ill-conceived scheme because it would unfairly target Canadian workers?
Ms Raitt makes no mention of the pretty healthy pension benefit program Members of the House of Commons have given themselves – which comes out of the very same wallets she speaks of. Ms Raitt is the MP for Halton.
 The boundary for the riding of Halton includes much of northern – rural Burlington.
 By Staff
June 14th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Karmel Sakran, a Burlington based lawyer who has served on the hospital board, runs a Wills Clinic each year and was the Liberal candidate for Burlington a number of elections ago, got a letter from a friend recently.
 Karmel Sakran doing the Terry Fox Cure for Cancer run The letter captivated Karmel. He explained: “… my friend describes her role as a Spiritual Care giver and how she recently had the experience of saving a man’s life on the Go Train. I will let the letter speak for itself. Enjoy!
You would think that someone from Spiritual Care would not have trouble answering the questions, “How do you work spiritually at work?” when the Wellness Coordinator asks, however, I was stumped until the Friday night GO train ride home.
 For those of you that regularly ride the GO Kartrain, you know that it is a bit of a strange environment. You can ride with the same people for many years and never actually meet them. At the end of the day, the cultural norm on the top deck of the train is quiet and silence but the alarm went for “Code 1033,” the code for a medical emergency and this time the emergency was in my car. I went down to investigate and a man had collapsed on the floor, not breathing, rapidly turning blue. Someone had started CPR and I took over compression as she tired. Others arrived as well. I heard the GO train personnel inquire who everyone was and it turns out we had someone from palliative care, someone who delivers babies, a dermatologist and me, a spiritual care provider.
I thought of all those family meetings where it was unknown what time the patient collapsed and how long he had been down for, so I looked at my watch. The time was 4:23. A minute into compressions and I was tiring already. How did I not know how tiring CPR was? I had watched the ICU team do CPR for hours, switching off every few minutes, never realizing how hard the work was and being reminded in the moment how important teamwork is. We began to switch off between trying to find a pulse and doing chest compressions.He was turning that awful colour between life and death.
Someone found a defibrillator and the baby doctor prepared to deliver a shock as she ripped open his shirt at 4:26. We heard her say “clear” and then he jumped underneath us. I heard the palliative doctor ask someone to find his name in his wallet and she began to talk to the patient. Talking to a dying patient is usually my job, but today, I heard someone else giving the spiritual care while we continued chest compressions stopping periodically so the palliative doctor could see if his heart was beating.
Suddenly he began to breathe. A cheer went up and we turned him on his side but the victory was only short lived. He stopped breathing again and we rolled him back to continue CPR. At 4:29 we gave him a second shock. In that second moment when we called “clear,” I looked up and I saw the faces of the people that I normally speak to- scared, overwhelmed by what they were seeing, panicked but I couldn’t provide the spiritual care it was someone else’s job to offer comfort and support. I placed my hands on his chest taking my turn at compressions from the dermatologist and this time I felt his heart punch back at my hands and beat to life again, like when I was pregnant and I felt the baby kick from within. It was like his soul was letting me know he was still there.
The doctors confirmed he had pulses, stronger pulses this time. Rolling him onto his side again it was 4:34. His colour returned, his eyes fluttered open. Oxygen arrived from somewhere and paramedics arrived on scene just as he was waking up. There was a sense of exhilaration that together we had saved this man’s life- the woman who went running through the train looking for doctors and found the strange collection of people to help, the person who donated her scissors to cut open his shirt, those of us that pounded on his chest and shouted in his ear to keep breathing, those that held elevators and doorways, went running for the defibrillator or just silently prayed- together- a crazy team that journeyed together differently today.
As I reflected on the events, I realized that in many ways the hospital is a strange collection of strangers, a collection of people journeying together, never knowing what the day will bring.
 I realized that being in rounds and family meetings had made me the accidental student as I heard over and over again what made the different at the beginning of a cardiac arrest to the final outcome. We must all be accidental students in our journey together, always learning from one another. Today, I reflected on all the people that I watch day in and day out use their hands to work to save a patient. How differently it felt to put my hands on a patient for medical treatment than to hold a hand to comfort. How lost for words I am to describe the feeling of seeing another human being shocked and pounded back to life and to have been a small part of that.
Today as we journey together, I’m reminded once again of the precious commodity of time that is given to each one of us to make each moment count. After he was taken away by EMS, a woman, in tears, explained, that the man collapsed after seeing her struggling up the stairs with her suitcase feeling panicked at being caught in rush hour. Seeing her struggle, he carried her suitcase up to the platform. She worried that the act of kindness may have cost him his life- perhaps it saved him because it put him in just the right place. I am more deeply aware that we are strange strangers on a journey but we don’t have to be estranged from one another, especially in crisis.
So today as I think about what the day will bring. I hope that I can live in deeper spiritual appreciation and with deeper reverence and awe for all those who place their hands onto their fellow sojourners in care. I hope that I can live with heightened awareness and hope for the strangers and companions that are all around. I hope that I can see with more compassion the struggles that each person carries in their work. In the end, to work spiritually is to remember that we journey together.
Pretty good way to start a week!
 By Graham Fraser
June 14, 2106
BURLINGTON, ON
One of the things I like about this job, that pays me less than nothing, is the responses we get from readers. Elise Box wrote and chided me for what she felt was my giving space to just on side of the French language instruction argument that Halton school board trustees are wrestling with. “I thought since you were in the “pinching,” from the Globe and Mail, you might consider pinching an article that is actually researched based. Perhaps you could assist in sharing the whole picture to the public.” I wouldn’t refer to this as “research based”; it is an opinion from a man I know personally and have a lot of respect for – however it is just an opinion.
For years, I have been listening to the arguments of ill-informed critics of French immersion. The time has come to set the record straight.
Some critics use the percentage of Canadians who are bilingual to argue that French immersion has been a failure. However, percentages are misleading; with Canada welcoming 250,000 newcomers each year, some of whom speak neither official language, it’s not surprising that the percentage of bilingual Canadians has dropped, even though the actual number has increased by more than half a million over the past 10 years.
Others complain that French immersion belongs to a particular chapter of Canadian history. Contrary to what many critics claim, French immersion is not a product of the Trudeau years, but began in the mid-1960s in Quebec, before Pierre Elliott Trudeau was even elected to Parliament. Its goal was to help children acquire language proficiency through the use of French as a language of instruction.
The allegation that it is an elitist program that filters out the children with behavioural problems and special needs is also profoundly unfair. The fact is that when a child in immersion has any kind of learning or behavioural problem, the first response of some schools is to pressure the parents to take their child out of immersion, regardless of whether or not the learning problem has anything to do with the language of instruction. Yet there are studies that show that children with learning problems do just as well in immersion as they do in the English stream.
 Similarly, many schools and school boards actively discourage immigrant parents from enrolling their children in immersion, even though studies show that immigrant students – who often speak a third language at home – adapt smoothly to immersion. Some immersion programs, however, boast a high percentage of children of immigrants, as their parents recognize the value of being able to speak the country’s two official languages.
Moreover, critics often refer to the drop-out rate from immersion. This is partly due to students choosing other specialized programs that are not available in immersion, and partly due to other factors. Some 15 years ago, Edmonton Public Schools was concerned about the dropout rate from immersion. By bolstering support for the teachers, improving communication with parents and establishing comparative evaluations of students’ language skills, the dropout rate diminished dramatically. Edmonton Public Schools is now recognized as having one of the best immersion programs in the country.
Some of the disenchantment with immersion comes from unrealistic expectations. Immersion doesn’t – and isn’t intended to – produce graduates who speak French with the fluency of native speakers. What immersion does provide is an important building block on which graduates can develop their language skills. Language proficiency is both an intellectual and a physical activity; without practice, it diminishes dramatically. I hope that the 150th anniversary of Confederation will see an increase in the number of opportunities for students to spend time in an environment where the other official language is dominant.
One of the problems that the immersion system has faced for a number of years has been a shortage of teachers who fully master French. To address this issue, a government program could be useful in breaking down some of the barriers that prevent exchanges between teachers. It is still easier for a teacher in Quebec to have an exchange with a teacher in France than with a teacher in Ontario, and easier for a teacher in Ontario to exchange jobs with a teacher in Australia than with a teacher in Quebec. This, to put it mildly, makes no sense.
 Halton District School Board trustees. Senior staff sit in the second row and are on hand to answer questions and provide detail. The immersion experience can be life-changing. When Jennifer MacIntyre was a child in a small town in Cape Breton, she insisted on going into immersion, overcoming the reluctance of her unilingual parents. Her reason: she wanted to be able to work at Cape Breton’s National Historic Site, the Site Fortress of Louisbourg. The experience broadened her horizons. Now, several decades later, she is Canada’s ambassador to Switzerland. “Without French, nothing else would have been possible and my dreams would have been much smaller,” she told me recently.
Canadian parents – thousands of whom are themselves graduates of immersion – want their children to have the experience that French immersion offers. It has enriched the lives of millions of Canadians. It is unfortunate that an ideal of perfection is being used to criticize one of the most successful Canadian educational experiences available.
Graham Fraser is Canada’s commissioner of official languages.
By Pepper Parr
June 13th 2106
BURLINGTON, ON
Halton Board of Education trustees will this evening hear from citizen delegation on what they would like to see in the way of a French immersion program for the 2017-18 school year.
Staff have recommended:
Grade 2 Entry into French Immersion at both dual and single track schools with 100% intensity for the first year and reduced intensity after that as shown:
Gr 2 – 100% intensity
Gr 3 – 80% intensity
Gr 4 – 50% intensity
 David Boag, Associate Director of Education for Halton Board of Education – the man carrying the ball and gathering research for th trustees. “Delaying entry into immersion till Grade 2 and having kids learn French the whole day instead of half when they start. That way, officials hope, parents will think more seriously about whether to put their kids in the program. It’s a sensible idea that could help ease the bandwagon effect – gotta do it or my kid will lose out – that is overwhelming boards.
 Of the 57 Grade 1 kids at Tom Thomson Public School in Burlington, Ontario, 53 are in French immersion. The remaining four are in Ms. Amanda Heilesen’s split Grade 1 and 2 class. KEVIN VAN PAASSEN/for The Globe and Mail This is one of the few occasions when staff does not direct the elected trustees. Many meetings were held, lots of discussion and a three inch binder of research and the trustees were told – they were on their own.
Halton is trying to figure out how to meet the demand from parents along with the limitations on the school/classroom structure and the difficulty in finding the number of qualified French language teachers. Their problem isn’t helped by the price of housing in Burlington – that much touted Best mid-sized city in Canada isn’t going to do anything for us either.
What do the pundit think? There were two exceptionally good columns in the Globe and Mail recently from which we have pinched shamelessly.
Margaret Wente, a regular columnist at the Globe had this to say:
No wonder Canadian parents have gone crazy for French immersion. Who wouldn’t want to raise a bilingual kid? Across the country, demand is soaring through the roof. Schools are scrambling to cope. In some districts, 25 per cent of the primary-school kids are in French immersion. School officials say there would be far more if they could only find more teachers.
 Trustees Papin, Oliver and Grebenc Just one problem. Well, several, actually. For many parents, French immersion is a way to game the system. It filters out the kids with behavioural problems and special needs, along with the low achievers. In short, it’s a form of streaming. Most French-immersion students are from affluent, high-achieving families that work hard to give their children an edge. And who can blame them? It sure beats forking over $27,220 a year for the Toronto French School (and that’s for kindergarten).
Unfortunately, this selfish but entirely natural parental tendency is at total odds with the gospel of the Canadian school system, which strives to be equal and inclusive above all else. For schools, “streaming” is a dirty word. We are constantly assured that high-performing kids actually do better in classrooms that include all those other kids. And vice versa.
This tension between the school boards and the parents has created an impossible dilemma. Some schools’ English-language programs are being hollowed out. In dual-track schools, they now have a much bigger ratio of disadvantaged, behavioural, etc. kids than the French programs do. The schools are being accused of entrenching inequality. As one immersion advocate told Maclean’s, “If we’re going to offer this program, how can we justify it if we don’t give kids – from whatever background – the tools they need to succeed?”
Today, the idea of French immersion as a magic smart pill is virtually unquestioned.
Sadly, there’s not the slightest shred of evidence that French immersion has accomplished any of its lofty goals. After 40 years of ever-expanding immersion programs, the percentage of Canadians who can speak both official languages has dropped. At two of the Greater Toronto Area’s largest school boards, half of French-immersion students bail out by Grade 8. By the time they graduate high school, only 10 per cent achieve proficiency in French (which is not the same as fluency).
The reasons for this miserable success rate are no mystery. Their entire world outside the classroom immerses kids in English. They play in English. They live in English. Everybody they know speaks English. If you want them to be bilingual, you’d better take them to live in France or Quebec – or at least make sure you’re married to a French speaker.
 Trustees Gray, Reynolds and Collard The downsides to French immersion, though seldom mentioned, are also real. Kids who struggle with English will also struggle with French – and who needs that?
Yet the dream lives on. As enrolment shrinks, school boards are desperate to keep parents happy so that they don’t defect from the public system. Like all-day kindergarten – which was also supposed to make kids smarter – French immersion turns out to be too good to be true. But too many people have too much invested in it to say so.
Marcus Gee who also writes a column had this to say:
French immersion is a wonderful thing in theory. Plunge kids into French in their early years, when their brains soak up language like a sponge, and they will emerge as confident French speakers. That will be good for them, making them more rounded people and giving them a shot at jobs where being bilingual is an advantage, and good for the country, helping bring the two solitudes of French and English together.
 Trustees Harrison, Harvey-Hope. Associate Director of Education David Boag is on the right. In practice, it hasn’t quite worked out that way, for several reasons. First, kids in immersion aren’t really immersed. The moment they are out the door and into the playground, they are speaking English, not French. In a city such as Toronto – or Edmonton or Vancouver or just about anywhere outside of Quebec – there just aren’t that many opportunities for most kids to use their French outside of school. Even in the classroom, few teachers can enforce a French-only rule at all times.
Second, it’s hard to find French-immersion teachers. The shortage is chronic. Schools scramble to fill immersion teaching posts and end up with a lot of teachers who can’t teach, can’t speak very good French or can’t do either.
Third, many students drop out of immersion as the years pass, some because they aren’t thriving in the French stream, others because they are going to specialty schools that don’t offer immersion. Even those who stay often don’t acquire good French. A surprising number do French for the whole 13 years, from senior kindergarten to Grade 12, and still can’t have more than a halting French conversation when they graduate.
That points to another problem with immersion: It has become a privileged island in the school system, populated disproportionately by kids from better-off families. It is the more educated, more involved parents who tend to choose immersion for their kids, hoping to give them an advantage within the hit-and-miss public system. Immersion classes tend to be whiter than the norm, with fewer students from immigrant families. In some schools, people come to view the English stream as second-rate, a place where poorer kids or kids who struggle in school end up. It’s the kind of division that a multicultural city that prizes equality wants to avoid.
 Director of Education Stuart Miller, Chair Kelly Amos and Vice chair Kim Gervais You can’t blame parents for wanting the best for their children. You can’t blame school boards for wanting to accommodate them either. The goal of French immersion – to give more students command of the country’s other official language – is still a noble one. Knowing a second or third language, a commonplace for Europeans, is an obvious asset in the age of globalization (though Mandarin might be a smarter choice). All my kids say that, whatever the ups and downs of immersion, it gave them a good grounding in French and broadened their horizons.
But the whole program needs a good hard look. Enrolment in immersion is soaring. School boards are struggling to meet the demand. It’s a good time to examine whether it is working as it should.
Will the trustees from Burlington, Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills find a way to meet the mushrooming demands of the parents, the needs of those children who are not cut out for French Immersion and the and at the same time be able to see the bigger picture?
This is not what any of them expected when they ran for public office. They are going to be fully tested with this issue. Fortunately there are a number of wise women on the board. There are enough of them to make the right decision.
They will decide what they want to see done at a meeting on June 15th, after they have heard all the delegations.
By Staff
June 13th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
It is that time of year again folks – the Sound of Music sort of takes over the city and they bring in millions of dollars in business to the city – so we put up with the problems in getting around and get outdoors and enjoy the music.
Here is what happens street closure wise.
Road Closures for Sound of Music – June 17 to 19
The following road closures will be in place.
• Friday, June 17 from 3:30 p.m. to Sunday, June 19 at 6 p.m., Brant Street from Caroline Street to Lakeshore Road.
• Saturday, June 18, from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.,John Street from Pine Street to Lakeshore Road.
Parade Closures
• Saturday, June 18 from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Caroline Street from Drury Lane to Locust Street, Elizabeth Street from Caroline Street to Pine Street and Drury Lane from Courtland to New Street.
Road closures will be managed under the supervision of the Halton Regional Police Service and emergency access will be maintained at all times.
By Pepper Parr
June 13th, 2106
BURLINGTON. ON
 Burlington MPP Eleanor McMahon – now a member of the provincial cabinet Mary Eleanor McMahon, has been appointed at the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport
Indira Naidoo-Harris has been appointed the Associate Minister of Finance (Ontario Retirement Pension Plan)
McMahon takes over a Ministry that was once held by former Mayor Cam Jackson when he was part of the provincial government. Better luck to McMahon with that portfolio.
Her Share the Road work gets her close to sports – her family day skating party suggests that she might want to spend some time outdoors.
 India Nadoo-Harris, MPP for Halon and now a member of the provincial cabinet Naidoo-Harris has a job as long as the provincial government has to go it along with their plans for a provincial retirement plan. Good management suggests the federal plan and the proposed provincial plan be merged.
McMahon and Naidoo-Harris are two very very different politicians. It will be interesting to see how they turn out.
Big change in the life of Mary Eleanor McMahon.
By Staff
June 13th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Short Term Road Closure: Emerald Street on Tuesday, June 14, 2016 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Emerald Street will be closed on Tuesday, June 14 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. between Courtland Drive and Victoria Avenue for crane activity.
Signs and barricades will be up and no through traffic will be allowed.
Local traffic to residents in this area of Emerald Street will be maintained, as well as emergency access.
 By Pepper Parr
June 13th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
 Indira Naidoo-Harris  Eleanor McMahon Indira Naidoo-Harris and Eleanor McMahon are appointed to the Cabinet of the Ontario provincial government
That gives the city two Cabinet members.
More to follow
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