By Peggy Russell, Candidate for the New Democratic Party in Burlington
We asked each of the candidates to tell you, our readers, what they thought was wrong with the election platforms of the opposing candidates. We asked that they write about “the other guy”. In a future feature each candidate will write about their party platform. We wanted to attempt to create a bit of a debate between the candidates. The Progressive Conservatives advised that they “will not be participating in the first half of our request. “We will get back to you ” they advised “with the 2nd half of the request regarding the PC Party Platform and what it will do for Ontario and for Burlington.” Here is what the New Democrats had to say. The Liberal comments will appear later this week.
 BURLINGTON, ON September 13, 2011 – I was honoured when I was approached to seek the candidacy to represent Andrea Horwath and the Ontario New Democratic Party in Burlington.
For the past 10 years I have been working to help build a stronger community as an elected School Board Trustee with the Halton District School Board. The opportunity to continue to represent families in Burlington as the MPP for our community within a party that is presenting a positive alternative to the negative politics of the past truly motivated me to continue the progress that so many of us have been able to achieve together.
In this election, I am looking to once again earn the trust of Burlington families so that we can continue some of the positive initiatives that I have helped to achieve for our community and so that I can work to deliver affordable change for families who are feeling squeezed in this economy.
Our party has a clear plan to help make life more affordable for families and seniors while improving healthcare and education, supporting job creation, protecting our environment, and working to change the negative, partisan politics of the past.
I hold those who choose to seek public office and to represent their community in the highest regard. I feel this way because democracy matters and government matters. We are so fortunate to live in a province and country where young people can aspire to great things including elected office. It is up to us who seek and who have held such positions to inspire these young people and to encourage participation in our great democracy.
Over the next weeks of campaigning, I will be joined by other candidates who are also working hard to seek your vote and your trust. They should be proud of the contributions that they are making to our community and to our democracy. Of course, we will be debating ideas and often we will not agree. I believe that residents will see a clear distinction between the plan that our New Democratic Party Team and I present and that of my opponents.
 After ten years service as a school board trustee Peggy Russell wants to head for Queen’s Park and doesn’t feel her loss in the last municipal election is going to hold her back. Solid candidate with a very clear point of view. Is Burlington ready for a New Democrat at Queen’s Park ? Our plan believes that there is a positive role for government to play in job creation and building a better society for all.
The no-strings attached corporate tax give-aways that the other two major parties promote have failed to deliver the economic success that has been promised.
The laissez faire approach of the other two parties to job creation needs to be replaced with a targeted plan to invest and help those businesses that actually create and sustain jobs in Ontario.
Our party believes that the current government has wasted too many of our tax dollars that hard working Ontario residents have contributed on failed schemes, overpaid consultants and runaway CEO salaries. This will change under an NDP government where CEO salaries will be capped and tax dollars will be invested in frontline services, not on overpaid consultants.
We disagree with a government that has made life more difficult for families by introducing an HST tax on families during a recession. We have seen how this has contributed to skyrocketing energy and transportation costs. Our plan will provide relief for families by removing the HST from essentials such as gas, hydro, and home heating.
The other opposition party is also promising change, but change to what – and is their change affordable? They have yet to demonstrate how they can create jobs, keep Ontario affordable for families, and preserve the kind of educational, health and other services that make Ontario a great place to live
I look forward to having the opportunity to share more of my ideas over the course of this campaign and debating the direction that our province should go with the other candidates for Burlington. On October 6th the residents of our community get to have their say. That is the beauty of our democracy.
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By Pepper Parr
 BURLINGTON, ON September 9, 2011 The Engineers have done their work and come to the conclusion that Graham Infrastructure of Mississauga should be the company that completes the construction of the Brant Street Pier. Hallelujah!
The recommendation is part of a report that will go before Council September 26. This has been a long protracted project and it looks as if the light at the end of the tunnel is not a train coming towards us.
The city received and publicly opened four bids from pre-qualified contractors to complete the pier project on Aug. 26. Prices ranged from $6.5 to $10.5 million. Those numbers included 13% HST; municipalities pay just 1.7% HST. The lowest bid came in from Graham Infrastructure.
The city reviewed all four bids to ensure they complied with the requirements of the tender documentation issued to seven prequalified contractors in July 2011. The total contract price of Graham’s bid is $6,429,700, including net HST at 1.76 per cent.
 The natural beach was a gift nature gave the city. Does the city have to spend additional money to build an access ramp to the location? And is the access ramp proposed the most cost effective solution? And will we call it the MacIsaac ramp? The bid includes two optional items: a beach access ramp and additional concrete work for the waterfront promenade in Spencer Smith Park. Interesting that the city does not break out the cost of the waterfront promenade part that is needed and the ramp to the natural beach that was formed by current that developed around the pier.
The concrete work for the promenade is necessary – this Council can and should seek some public input on the access ramp to the natural beach. We have a council that talks about getting input from the community but we don’t see this council asking people in the community what they want.
Our Mayor has stayed the course and held firm to his belief that the pier could be completed for the amount that was allocated. And he has done so with a considerable amount of uniformed opposition from a group that want the thing torn down. Well the Mayor has done his job – his council has been with him – well everyone except Ward 2 Councilor Meed Ward who voted with against going forward with a tender because she thought a deal could have been worked out with the contractor that walked off the job. She now takes the position that she will work with whoever wins the tender award. Good for her.
City staff have done a superb job of keeping this very difficult phase of a problem task on point. It has not been an easy job but they’ve done it and done it with all the expertise and professionalism that was missing when the project got started two council terms ago. Again – kudos for a Mayor that stuck to his guns.
I’m looking forward to our Mayor asking each Council member to hold a meeting in their ward at which the Mayor will listen to opinions on whether or not the access ramp should be included in this second phase of the construction project.
There’s nothing wrong with the ramp and it makes economic sense to include it in the next phase of construction – but this city has put up with a lot of delay and a pile of additional expense and they deserve the right to have this all be it small addition explained to them and given a chance to voice there opinion.
Ward 4 councilor Jack Dennison commented that “municipalities certainly no how to spend money” when the idea of an access ramp was first proposed by city engineers.
The Graham Group of Companies is a North American-wide company, with a local base in Mississauga. Graham is the fifth largest construction company in Canada with more than 1,200 salaried staff and a 2010 revenue of $1.8 billion.
Graham is an employee-owned, industry-leading construction solutions partner. They are a diversified and growing company active across North America.
 Sounds like a pretty decent organization. They are certainly big enough and appear to have the scale needed to get our pier built. Let’s see what Council decides when they discuss the staff recommendation. Graham covers the entire construction lifecycle and every contracting mode: general contracting, CM/GC, project management, design-build, design-bid-build, integrated project delivery, turnkey solutions, renovations/upgrades, Public-Private Partnerships (P3s) and partnerships, commissioning and post-construction management. This versatility is underpinned by our major competitive advantages:
Extensive integrated capabilities, based in Graham’s offices and shops in more than one-dozen centres across North America, lifting us far beyond a standard general contractor or construction manager;
Large, company-owned equipment fleet to help us self-execute construction work;
A unique, industry-leading integrated information system that creates a seamless and accurate project execution platform from first contact through final reconciliation.
Two questions: Where were these guys when we began the pier construction project and do they have a trestle of their own?
Assuming council accept the staff recommendation – will we hear jackhammers on the site before we see snow?
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON September 12, 2011 It looks like it might be choo choo Dalton. The Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, told the Toronto Board of Trade today that his government was going to create 68,000 GTA jobs as the province expands GO train service.
“Our goal is to build a high-skills, high-wage Ontario economy. To get that, you need to keep goods and people moving,” said McGuinty. “That’s why we’re expanding GO train service to two-way service, all day, on all corridors.”
Two way service – all day. What exactly does that mean? Will we see a schedule during the off peak hours that is better than the basically hourly service we have now? This government is throwing the words jobs, jobs, jobs around like curses in a grungy bar. A little more detail please. We get that we have an economy that is under a little stress. And there are people out of work – we have something in the 7%+ unemployment range – so new work is good.
 Improved GO service is another election promise. Mark that one down and see if they come through on it. Will this promise take as long as the hospital to come through ? And by the way the hospital funding is just that at this point – a promise. The upgrade to the GO service will mean jobs in construction and engineering. Good high paying jobs – but there were no times lines attached to the announcement.
According to the Premier there are some 45,000 people from communities like Hamilton, Barrie and Oshawa take the GO train to Union Station. If all those people drove to work instead of taking transit, the GTA would need to build four more Gardiner Expressways and four new Don Valley Parkways to accommodate the extra cars. We certainly get how packed those four lanes on the QEW are and what a mess when there is an accident.
All good news – but why do we have to have an election to hear all this good stuff?
The Premier said the province has invested $4.7 billion since 2003 to build new lines, improve stations, add new trains and increase service. Now, there are 12 million more people riding GO than in 2003 — a 28% increase. Today, 94% of all rush-hour trains are on time and passenger satisfaction with GO is 82% — up from 59% a year ago.
The Premier used the occasion to remind us that the last PC government recklessly gutted transit — and made a mess of GO Transit in particular. First, they downloaded GO to the municipalities, then uploaded it again. Now, the Hudak PCs are at it again. They have a $14 billion hole in their platform — which would mean deep cuts to transit at a time when transit is most needed.
The last NDP government also cut GO service and now would introduce a crushing $9 billion in job-killing taxes.
Those are acceptable comments during an election. Are they true ?
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By Pepper Parr
 BURLINGTON, ON September 12. 2011 End of the first week – and where are we in the provincial election? Well it is getting a little heated.
The biggest event was the visit to the Liberal campaign offices by the Premier. The campaign office was packed – and it wasn’t exactly a small office. A number of Tories were seen in the crowd. Liberal candidate Karmel Sakran was ecstatic.
Then there was the war of words over the immigrant job tax credit of $10,000. That was part of the Liberal platform. McKenna came out swinging on that one and managed to make a couple of solid points.
Where is the race going? The Liberals certainly have the best campaign at this point but they have been gearing up for some time and their candidate has been in place for months whereas the New Democrats have had their girl in place for less than a month while the Progressive Conservatives were a last minute nomination situation.
The Liberals however cannot win this seat without pulling some support from the traditional New Democratic base and that base is still very solid – more so since the tragic and untimely death of national New Democratic leader Jack Layton. The NDP locally still hopes for a bit of that orange wave to work itself into the provincial campaign, not likely, and then to have some of it seep into the Burlington campaign – very unlikely. However their base will hold and they may succeed in pulling back those who voted NDP in the past.
The Liberals appear to have woken up their base. It has always been around, part of the Paddy Torsney legacy. But if the Liberals hope to make this riding Liberal red they are going to have to attract some of the softer NDP vote and hope that the Progressive Conservative base continues to sit on its hands. Have you noticed that the Liberals aren’t using the bright vivid red of the past – more of a wine colour.
The Progressive Conservative base is unhappy. They did not like the way Tory headquarters in Toronto kind of imposed a candidate on them – but they have only themselves to blame for that debacle. Had they managed to develop a really solid local candidate the Toronto PC’s would have left them alone. Joyce Savoline, the current member of the Legislature for Burlington, didn’t leave the new candidate anything in terms of an election organization. She has been out on the campaign trail with McKenna and Ted Chudleigh, the member for Halton, which includes part of Burlington has shared events with McKenna while she learns the ropes.
The nomination mess has left a bit of a bad taste in the mouths of the quieter stories in town. There is nothing a political party likes more than a local constituency organization that has money in the bank and a local favourite with a good profile. Brian Heagle thought he had that to offer but he brought too much political baggage with him. Rene Papin was certainly a “good old boy” – having been a past president of the association, but for reasons that are not yet clear Papin was sort of asked to step aside. Could it have been his being a man of colour? Karmel Sakran wants to hope that if that was the case that the Tories were dead wrong?
Does Burlington want just white people representing them? Rude question perhaps but a question that the people of this city want to ask themselves.
McKenna to her credit appears to be putting up a stiff fight and talking back very loudly but then Jane McKenna has always been a very “in your face” person. If will take another week to figure out if she is more soundly briefed then when we first talked to her. If she is – look out folks. This is a driven woman.
A bit too early to tell if the lawn signs are really an indicator of support. Every political party has friends with commercial property that are made available for signs – those are expected. It is the lawns signs on the residential streets that tell the tale. If those Tory blue signs don’t sprout up quickly – that would suggest the base is going to sit on their hands and that would mean the end of a reign that started in 1943.
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By Pepper Parr
 BURLINGTON, ON September 12, 2011 – The city is without a City Manager. The task is being done on a rotating basis by the three General Managers with Scott Stewart, GM for Community Services doing duty in September and October, Kim Phillips, GM, Corporate Services will take the helm for November and December and if Roy Male, Director of Human Resources is right – the city should have a new City Manger hired by the end of the year. “We want to have the new city manager in place within 90 days” is the way Male see this happening.
Steve Zorbas, Acting General Manager for Development and Infrastructure has handled the city manager job on a few occasions while others were on vacation.
Burlington has not had that many City Managers – “Just four” advises Male who will oversee parts of the hiring of a new city manager but the bulk of the work on that assignment will get done by the Executive Search firm the city hires.
There is a lot of work to get done before the job is opened up to a competition that will see city council actually make the decision. Male advises that there will be two sets of interviews – the first at which all those who meet the criteria and are recommended by the search group and then those who make the short list.
The rules of the game are that Council members have to attend all the interviews. If for some reason a council member misses an interview then they have to drop out of the interviewing process. So every council member is going to have to find time on a busy schedule to interview what could amount to perhaps as many as a dozen candidates.
So, if your Council member takes a little longer to get back to you on a problem – you know what they are up to – hiring.
 Roy Male runs the Human Resources department for the city. He hopes to see the new city manager in place before the end of the year. Male has been with the city during the reign of the four city managers the city has employed Burlington has a solid reputation within the municipal industry and the job pays well – in excess of $200,000 annually. The city has a lot to offer and at least one very senior staff member intends to be one of the candidates applying for the job says the city is going into a very exciting phase. And indeed Burlington is about to clear a number of significant hurdles.
We will have a contract signed with a contractor to complete the construction of the Brant Street Pier. The Strategic Plan will be in place. We will be well on our way to working through just what it is the city wants in the way of a transit service.
We will have the “community engagement” staffer in place soon – this is the person that was recommended in the Shape Burlington report to help citizens engage with city hall. The Burlington Performing Arts Centre will have part of a season under its belt and they will begin to get a sense of how the community is going to take the place.
Not quite sure what the city is going to do if all those problems are put behind us.
Roman Martiuk left the job of city manager before the end of his five year contract and at the time it wasn’t all that clear just why he left. Martiuk said he “stepped aside” – probably the right thing to do when he realized his contract wasn’t going to be renewed. There was a rather unfortunate social event for Martiuk at which some of his comments were not taken very well by many of those who attended. Martiuk chose that occasion to make comments that didn’t need to be heard about the people he had worked with for the past four years. Sometimes it takes a little stress to being out the true colour of a personality.
The process of selecting the new city manager starts with a profile of the job and the kind of person the city needs to get the job done. That profile is created by council with input from the senior staff and, according to Roy Male, some of the Team Burlington people as well as some community leaders who will be asked to sit in on the creating of the profile.
Team Burlington is a collection of organizations that develop and promote the city. Tourism, Economic Develop are part of the Team.
This profile is a critical part of the process – it sets out just what the city wants their new city manager to do. Maybe the document should be made public – see if there is agreement from the people that pay for this high priced piece of talent as to just what the job entails.
 Roman Martiuk had a very short term with the city. He chose to step aside when it was clear to him that his five year contract would not be renewed. . Tim Dobbie, a former city manager has had a street named after him. Will we see a Martiuk Street? Martiuk was quite candid in an interview when he said he wasn’t all that keen in city engagement and he had major problems with the significant shortfall in infrastructure funding – meaning that we didn’t have the money to pay for the road repairs that have to be done.
It will be interesting to see how council decides to work with the community on how it goes about defining the profile for the job. That’s probably a more important document than the Strategic Plan.
Burlington has about 1600 people on the payroll with a significant number working part time. There are 850+ working full time. The city has a number of senior level committees in place with the three general managers and 17 Directors running the departments that keep the city going day in and day out.
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By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON September 8, 2011 An organization that has fostered, nurtured and developed creative talent in Burlington announced yesterday that it will cease operation at the end of September. This is not good news for Burlington.
 Creative Burlington, an organization that has struggled since its very inception but nevertheless managed to make huge strides in the development of the arts community in Burlington and was a leader in the campaign to develop the Burlington Performing Arts Centre that opened its doors less than a month ago. A sad, painful irony for the people that were in the trenches when an arts centre wasn’t much more than a gleam in the eyes of many.
In an announcement Board president Paul Mitchell said: “We reached the decision with great reluctance and regret but knew we could not continue without long-term financial support. We have concluded that the financial stability of the organization is too uncertain despite our efforts to obtain sustainable funding through events, programs and other vehicles, including a request to the City of Burlington.”
Mitchell took the opportunity to” thank the many people who have supported us over the years, including our generous corporate partners, our 400 plus members and our dedicated staff. We are proud of our highly successful programs to promote arts and culture in Burlington, including the Arts Recognition Awards held last February, our magazine Artworks and various festivals and events. It would be a shame if these initiatives disappear, but we are not in a position to continue them.” Mitchell said.
 Deb Tymstra was both all business and all about the performing arts and a large part of the reason we have a Burlington Performing Arts Centre is because she was in the trenches more than ten years ago developing the idea and raising money. Deb Tymstra, Executive Director, said the decision to cease operations was especially regrettable because of the demonstrable need to promote and support the arts in Burlington. “We have been advocating for the City of Burlington to give significant recognition and support to arts and culture in its new Strategic Plan, including the establishment of a Burlington Arts Council.
Arts and culture are vital to a successful, creative and inclusive community. We believe the City must be a leader in supporting this important sector,” Tymstra said.
Creative Burlington began in 2000 as Performing Arts Burlington, a community-based group to advocate for a performing arts centre. It raised $64,000 for the facility and provided experts to help design the centre and serve on the Project Management Team.
 Passionate about everything she does Deb Tymstra put her heart into what is now Creative Burlington. But the support she needed from within the community just wasn’t there and the city was not about to offer any ongoing funding. At the same time the organization provided programs and events to strengthen the recognition of the performing arts in Burlington. It later expanded its mandate to include all art forms and was renamed Creative Burlington in 2010.
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON September 10, 2011 – I guess it’s something we have to do – but these are our children and that we have to train people to see what we as parents sometimes do not see – a very disturbed child that chooses to act out and harm members of the community.
A media release from the Halton Regional Police Service explained that ” in conjunction with the Halton District School Board, Halton Catholic District School Board, Conseil scolaire Viamonde, Conseil Scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud and the Provincial Schools Branch (Milton), continues to provide its staff and community partners with exceptional training in the field of student threat assessment.”
People are being taught to assess and interview students they suspect could be a threat to the community. Given the tragedies that have taken place in schools in the past, and we are not talking about just the United States, it has happened in Canada as well, prudent policing would call for this type of training.
The media release went on to say: “Professionals in the school and community system participated in Level 1 Threat Assessment Training this past June. This month Principals, Police, Social Workers and Community partners will gather for additional in-service Threat Assessment Training referred to as “Clinical Interviewing in Threat Assessment.”
“The intensive two-day training session on September 13th and 14th funded by the Ministry of Community Safety and Correction Services focuses on strategic interviewing of key individuals including the threat maker(s), target, collaterals and parents/caregivers as part of the threat assessment process. A more comprehensive look at types of high-risk youth is presented to the participants.”
And so we have Correctional Service people teaching school board staff how to identify, evaluate and asses our children? Looks that way.
Family life is not what it used to be. Separations, divorces, unemployed parents – all this bring stress into a household and children react to that stress. One of the way they react is to act out against the community they don’t understand and have difficulty living within. We are doing something wrong as a society.
The press release went on to say that: “The Canadian Centre for Threat Assessment & Trauma Response, led by Mr. J. Kevin Cameron assists schools and other professionals in understanding the impact of trauma on systems and how to respond in ways that allow schools and communities to deal with serious situations in ways that encourage healing and foster growth rather than divisiveness.”
J. Kevin Cameron we are told, led the crisis response team following the 1999 school shooting in Taber, Alberta and was subsequently seconded by the Alberta Government to the Taber Response Project. He spent 13 months consulting with U.S. sites that experienced school shootings as part of his study of traumatic aftermath including threat related behaviour. Mr. Cameron is an official with the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and a Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress. In concert with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Behavioural Sciences Unit he developed Canada’s first comprehensive, multi-disciplinary threat-assessment training program.
The in-service training will be held September 13th and 14th at Gary Allan High School 2350 New Street, Burlington. For more information, please contact: Inspector J Gordon at 905 825 4749.
Someone somewhere has decided we need this kind of training. I think the money would be better spent on more phys-ed teachers and an upgrade to the library.
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON — Premier Dalton McGuinty highlighted the Ontario Liberal Plan to build a high-skills, high-wage economy during a visit to Burlington today.
“Whether you’re raising a family in Burlington, Hamilton, Oakville or anywhere in between, our plan to move forward into a better future for your family is working,” McGuinty said. “Across Ontario, all families need a stronger economy to support our schools, hospitals and quality of life. Our Ontario Liberal Team is working hard to help build that quality of life.”
 The politicians want to create excitement and as much buzz as they can. Thus the big campaign buses and the building up of anticipation. The handlers move the crowds up close to the bus and create a line the candidate walks along shaking hands. All the true believers get to these events. Here Premier Dalton McGuinty steps off the bus to a campaign event for Karmel Sakran. McGuinty was joined at the event by Burlington candidate Karmel Sakran, along with fellow candidates, Sophia Aggelonitis, Mark Cripps, Ted McMeekin, Donna Tiqui-Shebib, Indira Naidoo-Harris, Kevin Flynn, Katie Trombetta and Greg Crone.
“In a world where 70 per cent of all new jobs will require a postsecondary education, we are committed to investing in our people — in their skills, in their education — to build the world’s best-educated workforce,” said McGuinty. “We’re creating the advantage needed to compete in the new economy.”
It was the same old, same old canned political speech – the kind of thing her will be doing every day of the 29 days left in this campaign. I am waiting for the day that a Premier or the leader of a political party sits down and talks with people and gives up on the idea of saying something that will make the six o’clock news.
Earlier in the day McGuinty apparently tested an all-electric car and them immediately touted his plans for a solar society. I wanted to hear what the car was like to drive and I suspect everyone else in the room wanted the same thing.
The Premier did get a great reception. Karmel Sakran’s campaign office on Guelph Line was packed – it was standing room only with a couple of dozen people who had to stand outside.
 Didn’t expect to see Ward 3 councilor John Taylor on hand to see the Premier but there he was along with Ward 1 councilor Rick Craven – each getting their handshake and political blessing Ward 3 Alderman John Taylor was also in the crowd wearing his best grey pin stripe suit, as was Ward 1 councilor Rick Craven wearing his best red shirt. The crowd, and this was a crowd also included Ward 2 councilor Marianne Meed Ward who was the Liberal candidate in the last provincial election and gave current member Joyce Savoline a good run for her money.
As people streamed out of the room, which wasn’t all that large, there was a look on the faces of the people, – almost a bit of a glow on their faces – and I thought to myself – it looks as if they have been blessed. I’m not making this up. There was a buzz in the small plaza.
Premier McGuinty is not the greatest of campaigners – he gives the speeches but his strength is one on one and why he didn’t engage a half a dozen people individually and then apologize that he couldn’t talk to everyone and explain that there were a couple of stops left before he could tuck in for the night.
Candidate Sakran was of course ecstatic. People in the small but very crowded plaza were saying that they couldn’t remember every seeing premier of the province in Burlington.
McGuinty worked his way through the crowd, boarded the bus and left for the next destination. Burlington had gotten its visit.
Sometime later in the month Tim Hudak will come through town and do his thing and it will be on the six o’clock news. If the crowd isn’t as large or as enthusiastic – get ready for a shift in the political culture of this city.
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By Staff
 BURLINGTON, ON September 9, 2011 – Not many organizations can look back over their shoulders and realize they have completed 100 years of continuous operation. But this Saturday Sandy Thomson will tell friends and colleagues that his company is moving into its second century.
 Sandy Thomson, the man at the helm of the now century old organization and the person running the show during one of its most dynamic phases, will celebrate their success at an event this Saturday. The firm was founded in 1911 by Army Major George J. Thomson, and his brother William, who opened an industrial distribution business in Hamilton, Ontario. Later the brothers took on a partner named Earl Gordon and changed the name of the firm when it incorporated in 1916 to Thomson-Gordon Ltd. By 1936, the company was involved in manufacturing a variety of applications for industrial engineers, and it flourished. George J.V. Thomson, son of the founder, was an architect graduate from Pratt Institute of New York and after working several years in New York answered the summons of his father to return to Canada to help run the family business.
In 1967 his son, George A. (Sandy) Thomson succeeded George J.V. Thomson. Sandy, who graduated as a Mechanical Engineer from Northrop University, Inglewood, California, is presently CEO and sole owner of Thomson-Gordon.
The non-metallic Thordon bearing business began in a small corner of the plant in the 1960’s on Queen St. in Hamilton; a simple experiment in reacting synthetic elastomer chemicals by the firm’s third generation leader, Sandy Thomson and production foreman, Arnold Lange. Since that time Thordon has continued to develop, test and introduce new polymers in a search for new innovative products that solve our customer’s most demanding bearing applications and problems. His stepdaughter, Anna Galoni, is a Polish-born epidemiologist by training and is now the firm’s Vice Chairman. She will eventually succeed her stepfather.
Thordon Bearings Inc. designs and manufactures a complete range of non-polluting bearing and shaftline products for the global marine, clean power generation, pump, offshore and
industrial markets. Recognized internationally for superior performance in eliminating oil and grease from bearing applications, Thordon Bearings has a worldwide customer service network in over 100 countries.
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON September 9, 2011 – On Sunday, September 11, from 2 to 4 p.m., Sean Bray’s Peach Trio will kick off the third season of the popular Jazz at the Museum series at Halton Region Museum, located in Kelso Conservation Area in Milton.
“Take a break from the back to school hustle and enjoy the last days of summer with a performance at the Halton Region Museum by this talented trio,” said Halton Regional Chair Gary Carr, who probably won’t be on hand. The setting, which is inside an old barn is really quite nice and the music is as good as it gets in any Jazz Café in a large urban center. Somebody at the Region cam up with a good idea – take it in. I’ve been and will go again.
 The trio includes Sean Bray on guitar, Mark Dunn on bass, and David MacDougall on drums. A respected guitarist, composer and teacher, Sean Bray studied at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music in New York. He now teaches at The University of Guelph and has played with and/or recorded with George Garzone, Pat LaBarbera, Bob Mintzer, Jon Faddis, Liberty Silver, Matt “Guitar” Murphy from the Blues Brothers, Mike Murley and Vincent Wolfe. His compositions have been featured in films and television shows.
Mark Dunn has appeared in the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival, Markham Jazz Festival, and performs regularly in Toronto area clubs as a sideman. Drummer David MacDougall keeps time through the trio’s songs that include an honest hybrid of instrumental Americana Roots with Jazz Improv sensibility.
 Accomplished Jazz guitarist Sean Bray will be at the Halton Regional Museum – worth the time and a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Limited tickets are available at the door for $20 per person and include light refreshments. The performance, a fund raiser for the Halton Museum Foundation, takes place in the Hearth Room in the Museum’s historic Alexander Barn from 2 to 4 p.m. Doors open at 1:30 p.m.
“We’re delighted to welcome Sean Bray’s Peach Trio as our first performer of the fall Jazz at the Museum concert series,” said Nancy Field, Manager, Heritage Services. “According to jazz guitarist John Abercrombie, listening to Sean Bray is a real treat, so join us for a lovely fall afternoon in the Hearth Room”.
To purchase tickets or for more information on the event, call 905-875-2200, ext. 27
The Halton Region Museum is located inside Kelso Conservation Area in Milton – the site that was originally settled in 1836 by Scottish immigrants. The Alexander family farmed the 200-acre property through four generations. Today, one of the Museum’s focal points is the Alexander Barn with additional buildings to be opened to the public over the coming year. The upper two floors of the historic building feature exhibits and artifacts that reflect Halton’s natural and cultural heritage. Two unique meeting and reception rooms located in the Barn are available for corporate or social events, group presentations and educational programs.
This first seasonal event is part of a program that runs through to December. Tickets are very reasonably priced $20. Call 905-875-2000 extension 27 to order. More details at https://www.halton.ca/cms/One.aspx?portalId=8310&pageId=44998
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON – September 1, 2011 With the campaign offices opening up and the official start of the campaign beginning on September 7th – well, the feathers are flying.
Respected Conservative blogger Russ Campbell posted a piece on what he thought of the McKenna nomination. (See Tim Hudak and Jane McKenna: I’ll hang onto my money and sit this one out.), in which he lamented the loss of a decent democratic process. He didn’t quite get away with his comments – an anonymous writer took exception to some of the Campbell statements but Campbell came right back and put that whipper-snapper in his place. Here is a taste of how that dialogue went.
 Some tough words are going to get thrown around during this election. Is Burlington going to change it’s political stripes from Blue to Red? Campbell said he felt the Burlington Progressive Conservative riding nomination process has been hijacked by PC headquarters in Toronto. “Such is the state of what passes for democracy in my riding”, he lamented.
“Following my article”, said Campbell, ” I’ve received two comments from an anonymous “PhilC” who has taken me to task over my disappointment that Jane McKenna was, apparently, the only PC candidate qualified to represent Burlington in the upcoming Oct. 6 Ontario general election. PhilC wrote:
“It is gotcha journalism like this that discourage Canadians from running for public office, which they have every right to.”
“PhilC then went on at great length to tell me Ms. McKenna is “a passionate community advocate,” among other things.
“In my essay, I expressed concern regarding Jane McKenna’s suitability to be a candidate. The relevant quote from my essay follows:
“As far as I could tell, McKenna had no previous political experience other than losing badly in the 2010 municipal election—she ran as a candidate for Ward 1 City Councillor against winner, Rick Craven, and placed a poor fifth out of five candidates. I was shocked for I thought that surely we PCs could do better than a candidate that could only garner 565 votes for a fifth place finish in the Ward 1 race.”
“To that, PhilC wrote, “Who cares what place you come in?”
“I wrote a comment of my own to answer PhilC, but decided to share the debate with others. So, here is a more complete response to PhilC.
“Of course we should care how McKenna placed in her only election. Did you miss the point that we PCs want to “win” the Burlington riding.
“As to your comment: “That’s why she won the nomination.” Nonsense. McKenna won nothing; she was acclaimed—there is a big difference.
“Your words: “Heagle and Papin, on their own accord dropped out because people started to support the better candidate.” Again nonsense. I know both of those candidates, and your claim is far from the truth, but I think you know that very well. According to Mr. Papin’s—a former president of the Burlington PC Riding Association—media release at the time of his withdrawal:
“I have been advised that my candidacy, at this time, does not fit the strategic direction of the party, and that it would be in the best interests of the party if I were to withdraw.”
“This sounds nothing like your claim he dropped out on his “own accord.” When you make such outlandish claims anonymously though they may have been made, you could at least offer a reliable source or two.
“And this silliness: “Even though everyone thinks this election is about Burlington and that’s all that should be discussed, it is really about Ontario.” Nonsense! Wherever did you get the idea that “everyone thinks this,” I don’t. I would remind you, however, that to win Ontario, we Burlington voters have first to win Burlington riding. Voting for a dud does nothing for the residents of Burlington.
“And finally: “Jane McKenna is by far the most qualified candidate for the job… .” Bollocks! Give a single scrap of evidence to support this outrageous claim.
“The purpose of a nomination meeting is for voters in a riding to select the person they want to represent them; not to rubber stamp some candidate selected for them by PC headquarters.”
Now that my friends is spirited debate – we need more of it and I am indebted to Russ Campbell for using the King’s English the way it was intended and the way Sir John A himself also expected us to use the language.
 Liberals accusing Tim Hudak of breaking a promise. He says he’s just “thinking” about a change. The Liberals weren’t prepared to devour their own the way the Progressive Conservatives are but they are certainly out there throwing big punches. The Mayor of Ottawa, speaking at the annual conference of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) expressed concern that a Hudak government would not honour an agreement Ontario municipalities had with the government on the downloading of services that took place during the Harris reign. The agreement was to last through to 2018 and had a value of $1.5 billion placed on it.
Tim Hudak, leader of the Progressive Conservative opposition told the municipal politicians at the AMO conference that he would honour what had been done to date but he wasn’t as certain that he would honour the last half a billion. And that certainly put a fright up the skirts of the municipal people.
We can expect to see all kinds of accusations flung about and promises galore made – but don’t forget folks – this is YOUR money they are spending.
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON September 1, 2011 The email started with: “I’ve decided to leave well- enough alone” which meant that Casey Cosgrove was not going to be a candidate in the forthcoming provincial election. He would have run as an independent, something not done very often.
Cosgrove was a candidate for Ward 5 during the 2006 municipal election where he came in second – just 480 votes behind Rick Goldring who then went on to become Mayor in the 2010 election.
 There will be no election signs with the name Casey Cosgrove on the lawns of Burlington homes. “I will use my energies in the fall” said Cosgrove “to start a foundation ( connected to cancer support for young families), and may blog in my own straight- shooting way on the election , and try to connect Burlington voters ( more aimed at traditional non- voters) in that way.
I will also take up the offer and opportunity to share whatever support, ideas that I can to our Mayor and his team in an ongoing and informal manner.
A good one got away on us.
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By Staff
 Burlington, ON September 2, 2011 The house was empty and that was all two suspects needed to break into a Burlington home and steal jewellery valued ay more than $11,000.
The homeowners appear to have some kind of internal security system because police have the following description:
Suspect #1 is described as a male, Asian descent, 35 years old, 5’4 ” tall , 160 lbs, with dark spiked hair. He was wearing a red and white plaid long sleeve shirt and blue jeans.
Suspect #2 is described as a male, East Indian decent, 6’tall, 150 lbs, with short dark brown hair. He was wearing blue jeans.
A dark blue passenger van was observed parked in the driveway at the time of the break and enter.
The break-in took place sometime between 9 am and 5 pm on August 8th when the front door of a Pine meadow Drive home was forced open. Once inside, the suspect(s) ransacked the second level master bedroom and removed several 22 k yellow gold jewellery sets valued at $11,500.
Sounds like an inside job to us.
Anyone with information on this or any other crime is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1 800 222-8477 (TIPS) or through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.com or by texting “Tip201” with your message to 274637 (crimes).
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By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON August 29, 2011 – If you want to serve your community as a volunteer the Halton Regional Police Service Auxiliary Policing Services Unit might interest you.
The unit, that was founded in 1989, is comprised of trained civilian volunteers.
It is a demanding yet rewarding activity where satisfaction is derived from making a significant contribution to the safety and wellbeing of the community at large.
Halton Regional Police Service Auxiliary Members:
• Support the work of regular police officers on local crime prevention initiatives
• Participate in ground searches for lost or missing persons
• Volunteer at numerous, large-scale, annual events throughout the year.
For additional information and applications, please visit the Halton Regional Police Service website (www.haltonpolice.ca) or contact the Auxiliary Policing Coordinator, Staff Sergeant Robert Lloyd at 905-825-4747 ext. 4705 or by email, AuxiliaryPolicing@haltonpolice.ca
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By Jim M
 BURLINGTON, ON August 29, 2011 – So finally, the long awaited, and much anticipated line up of performers at Burlington’s new center for the performing arts has been released. Power house acts such as World renowned Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka , Canadian iconic group Lunch at Allen’s and the play Jason and the Argonauts, to name a few, will grace the new stage of this beautiful venue in the up coming months. Perhaps the biggest name announced will be Sarah McLachlan performing to what promises to be a full house for the “exclusive” Red Carpet event to mark the inaugural grand opening of this Performing arts center.
Going through the Burlington Performing Arts Centre’s first season brochure, nicely designed and presented you find that average ticket prices range from $28.00 – $55.00, with selected discounts for youth and seniors. For a special evening out these ticket prices are affordable and within the reach of the average family. Let us remember that this new facility is city run and paid for by the taxpayers of this city. Yet to be realized will be the true operating cost of this facility in which more taxpayers dollars could be spent.
What is of great interest, is the motivation of the board of directors to price what most would consider, the grand opening, a great event to be able to attend, way out of reach for the average family. At $400.00 plus tax per ticket, what family could? Has this been priced this way to only delight the well to do and all others need not enter. It would seem it is only lip service from our mayor and city councilors regarding community involvement and inclusivity.
How does alienating the larger portion of this cities population from a city run facility by shear cost give us the taxpayers, the feeling… we are important! When will our politicians truly walk the talk? Let’s not hope we hear that the board of directors of this facility, senior city staff, elected officials, and selected public figures have been given complimentary tickets. This quite frankly would represent a double hit to us the taxpaying community.
Editors note:
We normally do not post comments that are anonymous but in this instance we have done so and want to add the comment we got from the contributor.
Further to our conversation, I was not intending to have my name published. I am trying to find a job in the area and don’t want to jeopardize my ability to obtain work.
Jim’s comments do not speak well of Burlington – that a citizen would feel he cannot comment on public matters for fear of not being able to get a job. Unfortunate, very unfortunate – both for Jim and for Burlington.
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON August 29, 2011 – The city publicly opened four tender bids for the completion of the Brant Street Pier last Friday. Here is what the bids said:
BOT Construction Group (Oakville)- wants $10,503,350.00 to complete the pier. The “thanks but no thanks” letter should have been in the mail the same day.
Graham Infrastructure (Mississauga) a JV – $6,429,700.00 – that JV means it’s a joint venture with several different groups involved – that will require a much closer look on the part of the team reviewing the bids. This one however is the lowest number.
Rankin Construction, St. Catharines wants $6,714,234.00 to complete the pier.;
Zenith Contracting wants $6,703,160.00 to complete the pier.
Now some might look askance at those numbers and point out that the three in the $6 million range are above the $5.8 million council allocated for the job – and so Council should do what they said they would do if the bids were too high – take the pier down and return all the grant money the city was given.
But those numbers aren’t as high as they appear to be. Here’s why.
The bids had to include 13% HST – so the price you see INCLUDES the HST – and while you may not have known this – municipalities pay just 1.76% HST.
So let’s look at those numbers again. We will exclude the greedy little outfit in Oakville that wanted $10.5 million and focus on the three that came in at just over $6 million and do the same calculation for each one.
Here is the calculation.
We take out 13% of the price in the bid and then add back in 1.76% of the new number.
And that gets us the following
Graham $5,692,290.57 or $107,709.43 under the allocated amount.
Rankin $5,944,191.93 or $144,191.93 over the allocated amount.
Zenith $5,934,387.99 or $134,387.99 over the allocated amount
On a. purely price basis these are very good numbers for the city. But then so were the Harm Schilthuis and Sons Ltd numbers during the first bidding round – remember, they were the lowest bidder back then. So the lowest price isn’t necessarily the best price. Burlington certainly now knows that.
 The city changed its mind about the use of the trestle that belonged to a sub-contractor of HSS, the original contractor hired to build the pier. When the bids came in for the original contract to build the pier current Director of Engineering, Tom Eichenbaum said the contractors that submitted bids were not given much more than a cursory review. The city didn’t make that mistake this time. The city hired Morrison Hershfield to prepare a tender for a new contractor to complete the Brant Street Pier and also bought in project management firm METTKO in April 2011. Procurement consultant Cassels Brock was hired to help prepare a tender package.
There was a bit of a kafuffle over the uses of the trestle that belonged to a sub-contractor who just wanted to be paid or at least get his trestle back. That mater got messy but the Mayor stepped in and that problem got put to bed.
The funds to pay for what the city now calls “phase two” of the pier construction will come from the city’s capital purpose reserve fund
The plans that were included in the tender had significant changes that might create some legal problems for the city but that’s a different kettle of fish that will get dealt with later – and you just know that it will come back to bite us.
What one wonders is why the city didn’t give the public all the details – this is a good news story folks. But based on the news release the city put out, every one of the bidders was over the allocated amount of $5.8 million.
Now of course “it ain’t over until the fat lady sings” but the fat lady has a song sheet in her hands and she can read music – so Mayor Rick Goldring may have more than hit the nail on head when he said he looked forward to the opening of the Sound of Music Festival in 2013 taking place on the Pier with the Burlington Teen Tour Band marching out onto the deck playing a rousing piece of marching music.
Of the seven contractors that had been pre-qualified to submit a bid – just four actually submitted a document. There was at least one on that list that is seen as the best in the business and quite why they didn’t submit a bit makes one wonder.
 Scott Stewart, General Manager Community Services Department, leads the staff group that has stick handled this project to the point where the city now has at least three bids that on the surface look pretty good. The details will get a thorough scouring from Stewart who is a no nonsense kind of guy. He came to Burlington from Hamilton. The bids are now in the hands of a group that consists of at least Scott Stewart, General Manager Community Services; city engineer Tom Eichenbaum and Craig Stevens, Project Manager, Corporate Strategic Initiatives This group will review the bids and look at any of the provisional items that are in the document and then rank them and take their report and recommendation to the Community Development Committee on September 14th.
Everyone that counts within city hall will have had numerous discussions on which contractor the city should go with and the decision will probably have been made, at least in the minds of most, before the committee meets. There will of course be debate and discussion and there might be some surprises from any delegations that register to speak – but on balance – it looks as if the city has moved one more significant step towards getting the construction of the pier back on track.
A city hall source who was not authorized to speak said the bids were “good news with 3 very close and within expectation”.
Why did we expect them all to be over the allocated amount of $5.8 million ?
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By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON August 26, 2011 The Burlington Chamber of Commerce announced on August 9th that they are now accepting nominations for the 2011 Business Excellence Awards and the Mayor’s Community Service Awards. Closing date for nominations is October 7th . The awards will be handed out April of 2012. Guess they want to beat the Christmas rush.
Burlington just loves handing out awards and holding gala fund raising events. It is almost a cottage industry in this city. The awards are to recognize overall success and excellence of local area businesses and are given in several categories including Manufacturer, Retail/Wholesale, Service Industry, Small Business, New Product and Young Entrepreneur.
A new award will be presented this year to the Employer of the Year. Awards are not necessarily given in every category each year. All companies or divisions of companies that are located in Burlington OR are members in good standing of the Burlington Chamber of Commerce, AND have a tangible business connection within the City of Burlington for a minimum of three years are eligible to be nominated. Sounds as if anyone can lob their name into the basket.
Nominees for the Mayor’s Community Service Awards will be considered on the basis of criteria that show how they contribute to Burlington’s quality of life, making Burlington a better place in which to live and work. The first award to be considered is for a for-profit business and the second is for a not-for-profit organization providing charitable works or services in Burlington. The nominees must be located within the City of Burlington and not have received a Mayor’s Community Service Award within the past five years.
Does the Mayor make the selection? And if it is a “Mayor’s Award” why is it being touted by the Chamber of Commerce?
The deadline for all nominations is October 7, 2011. To nominate a company visit the Chamber website at www.burlingtonchamber.com and click on Business Awards Gala.
All awards will be presented at the Business Awards Gala on April 12, 2012 at the Burlington Convention Centre.
The Burlington Chamber of Commerce is the voice of business in Burlington and represents over 1,000 member companies at the local, regional, provincial and federal level. For more information visit the Burlington Chamber website at www.burlingtonchamber.com
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By Staff
The Halton District School Board is the lead on the new Alton community complex that is scheduled to open sometime in 2013 (before the Pier?). A contract to construct the multi use facility at the intersection of Tim Dobbie Drive and Dundas Street was awarded today to Bondfield Construction of Concord, Ontario.
The joint facility will cost approximately $40.2 million, to be shared by each of the partners – City of Burlington, Burlington Public Library, and the Halton District School Board. Site preparation will begin immediately, with the official groundbreaking anticipated for September 2011. The architect for the project is Svedas Architect Inc. of Burlington.
“We look forward to working with our partners to bring this unique facility to completion, and to offering families a state-of-the art high school in north Burlington,” says David Euale, Director of Education for the Halton District School Board.
Representatives from the school board, Burlington Public Library and City of Burlington signed a three-party agreement August 17 at Burlington City Hall to move forward with the project with completion scheduled for fall 2013.
 The last major development in Burlington is under construction in the Dundas and Appleby Line area and will include an integrated high school, library and community centre. The facility, located at Dundas St and Tim Dobbie Way, includes a high school built to accommodate 1,200 students, a recreation complex, and a shared library which will be used by the public and the high school. A joint construction team that includes the City of Burlington, the Burlington Public Library and the Halton District School Board will manage the project. Construction began on the adjoining Norton Park in spring 2011 where a skate board rink is being constructed.
The Alton Project will include a 147,069 square-foot (13,663 square-metre) school, an 11,840 aggregate square-foot (1,100 aggregate square-metre) joint integrated library and a 53,886 square-foot (5,006 square-metre) community centre. A common entrance, parking and other shared areas will connect these buildings.
“Families in Burlington will benefit from the expansion of library service to the Alton community while benefiting from having a high school and community centre close by,” adds Library Board President, Carrie Brooks-Joiner.
This shared Alton facility will include four competition-sized double gyms, a three-storey high school with a 200-seat auditorium, and a shared 11,840 square-foot (1,110 square metre) integrated library which will be used by the public and the high school, with flexible classroom and public meeting space.
In partnership with Burlington Hydro, the complex will support a rooftop solar system, which will feed energy back into the city’s power grid system.
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By Pepper Parr
This is the third in a series of interviews on the three candidates running in the provincial election taking place October 6th. Each candidate was asked the same questions.
Along with their answers are the impressions and insights gained from the time spent with each candidate. Some we had met before the interview – others were new to us.
There are those in the community who describe Our Burlington as a news source with a “Liberal” slant. Not true. As the publisher of Our Burlington my responsibility is to the community. On balance I personally tend to vote Liberal but have voted for other parties. John Robarts was a great Premier and Bill Davis did a really good job as well. One’s political party is a philosophical choice but my view is that you look for the best person to represent your community. We started this series with Karmel Sakran, the Liberal candidate, and then Peggy Russell, the NDP candidate. In this issue we publish our interview with Jane McKenna, the Progressive Conservative candidate. The intention is to follow up with the candidates as the election progresses.
BURLINGTON, ON August 24, 2011 – The one issue that come up again and again with Burlington Progressive Conservative Jane McKenna is family and community. The Escarpment is not her concern – “we need roads so that people can get from place to place in a decent amount of time.”
 Jane McKenna, Progressive Conservative candidate for Burlington in the forthcoming provincial election. Ready for this level of public office? She wants to be the voice for the community at Queen’s Park. There isn’t however a list of any length of the things she has done in the community. McKenna has been employed in media sales with a number of publishing and brand development companies in the city. McKenna was working as campaign manager for Rene Pepin who withdrew from the race. Shortly after Pepin withdrew Brian Heagle also withdrew which left the PC’s with no candidate. McKenna filled the breach and was nominated at one of the shortest nomination meetings this city has ever seen.
Just because there isn’t a lot of political experience doesn’t mean this lady is going to stand still. She has a lot to learn but she also has a tremendous capacity to learn and she is a tiger when it comes to going after what she wants.
The Mother of five children, all born at the Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital she will tell you if you give her three seconds, has sold ideas or services all her life – and if McKenna ever calls on you to sell you something – get out your cheque book.
McKenna isn’t a thinker – she’s a doer. “I went as far as grade 13” she will tell you. “What you see is what you get” she adds. The problem is that there just isn’t that much to see. Perhaps we will see more during the Chamber of Commerce all candidate breakfast September 27th
 Strength in numbers. McKenna on the left with Halton Progressive Conservative candidate Ted Chudleigh and current Burlington MPP Joyce Savoline. McKenna will lean heavily on Chudleigh as the old master shows her how it’s done. She has the Burlington Progressive Conservative machine behind her – what isn’t clear is just how well oiled that machine is less than sixty days away from the election. The campaign probably will not want for money – there are some pretty deep pockets within that band of blue brothers and the cheques will get written.
The challenge is going to be to get out the vote – and on that level McKenna brings an engaging personality and impressive energy to everything she does. Can she motivate the Conservative base and does she have a campaign team that has the drive, energy and experience needed to pull this off? Many of the team come from the Cam Jackson era – and that is not good news.
There are those that believe McKenna fit the profile that the Progressive Conservative party had for the riding – a younger, professional, presentable woman. Burlington, while conservative has in the past elected women to both federal and provincial seats. Paddy Torsney, whose brother Brian is the president of the company McKenna works for, represented Burlington very successfully for a number of years. It was problems with the Liberal leadership that cost Torsney her seat in 2006.
Joyce Savoline was Regional Chair and is the current MPP. Women work – pick one that looks the part and go with her, would appear to be the criteria that was used to choose McKenna who got the nomination at a meeting that lasted less than 20 minutes.
For McKenna the PC leader Tim Hudak’s Change Book sets it all out and she tends to read directly from the book.
 McKenna has good listening skills which she will use intensely for the next 50+ days. McKenna ran in Ward 1 during the 2010 municipal election and came in last. She was basically a Bill Carty sponsored candidate. Carty apparently had an issue with the city at the time relating to a property he had offices in and he had targeted the sitting Council member Rick Craven. McKenna didn’t live in the ward and didn’t generate much in the way of traction.
 Keith Strong, a local conservative mover and shaker, is believed to be the conservative who suggested to McKenna that she go after the PC nomination. She was originally the campaign manager for Rene Pepin who withdrew from the nomination race Politicians have been known to grow once they are elected. Rick Goldring stumbled a bit during his first few months in office and he didn’t exactly inspire in the last election. He did however put out the best set of policy papers and he did have a very clear idea as to why he was running. He won because the city just didn’t want either of the other two candidates running. Goldring has grown into the job of Mayor and he has a lot more growth in him.
Does McKenna have growth within her ? No way of knowing that yet, at this point all we have to go on is a hope that she will grow into the job if the city decides she is who they want.
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By Pepper Parr
 This is the first of a series of interviews on the three candidates running in the provincial election taking place October 6th. Each candidate was asked the same questions.
Along with their answers are the impressions and insights gained from the time spent with each candidate. Some we had met before the interview – others were new to us.
There are those in the community who describe Our Burlington as a news source with a “Liberal” slant. Not true. As the publisher of Our Burlington my responsibility is to the community. On balance I personally tend to vote Liberal but have voted for other parties. John Robarts was a great Premier and Bill Davis did a really good job as well. One’s political party is a philosophical choice but my view is that you look for the best person to represent your community. We started this series with Karmel Sakran, the Liberal candidate, and now Peggy Russell, the NDP candidate. Next we will publish our interview with Jane McKenna, the Progressive Conservative candidate. The intention is to follow up with the candidates as the election progresses.
BURLINGTON, ON August 20, 2011 – It doesn’t take long to realize you are talking to a women who has strong views and little difficulty in making them known. Peggy Russell, the NDP candidate for the Burlington seat in the provincial legislature, served as a school board trustee for ten years and ended that career because she felt her work was done, is now clearly ready to begin working for the people of Burlington again.
 NDP candidate in the forthcoming provincial election Peggy Russell has her team in place and her issues clearly laid out and is taking them to whoever will lend her an ear. For Russell – the three key issues are: The infrastructure first, saving the Escarpment second – and “can I get back to you on the third one”? This interview took place before the provincial government announced it had approved the upgrading of the Joseph Brant hospital but that announcement wasn’t taking any wind out of the Russell sails.
In a statement made after the funding of the hospital was announced Russell said “… the Liberal Plan to finance the hospital expansion and modernization through a private financing scheme. While the full details of what is planned have not been released, the Liberal government has indicated that it will continue with the P3 model of funding that they have renamed AFP (Alternative Financing Plan). Given the significant cost overruns and service reductions that have happened under this model, first adopted by Mike Harris”, Russell says the community has good reason to be concerned.”
 If you don’t have you family delivering flyers and knocking on doors then you really don’t have a campaign team. NDP candidate Peggy Russell poses with part of team. For Russell the hospital is all about community and Russell’s focus is very much on community. She feels both the former Mike Harris Progressive Conservative government and the current Dalton McGuinty Liberal government failed Burlington by letting the hospital deteriorate to the point where it was not a very good hospital, but a place very much in need of an upgrade and the province wasn’t putting the funds needed to get the hospital back to the point where it met the needs of the community.
“We have people being taken out of the Region for health care” and for Russell that is “just not acceptable”. The announcement that the hospital will be upgraded pleases Russell but she is not going to stop beating on this “until I see shovels in the ground”.
Infrastructure for Russell is putting in place the services people need to live their lives in dignity and with food and shelter they can afford and hydro bills that don’t strip their purses and wallets of the money for those small discretionary things that give life some depth and meaning.
Russell doesn’t really trust government, yet she wants to be part of one – she wants to be part of a government that will put the people in communities first. People come before budgets Russell will tell you, and while that sounds good – services can’t be delivered without some balance between tax revenue and money spent on services for people.
Russell will argue, very strongly, that better administration and paying attention to the little things before they get out of hand and become big things, is the route to go and she believes that the New Democrats can bring that kind of government to the province. She makes no comment on Bob Rae’s NDP attempt to govern Ontario.
Russell was born in Quebec, moved to Ontario where she raised her three children who were schooled in the city. She worked as a Clerk for an Administrative judge and saw first hand the cases involving young people in conflict with the law who inevitably came from broken homes. They would get “processed” and then eventually released but because they had no marketable skills they would come into conflict with the legal system once again. It was a revolving door that is very expensive to maintain, says Russell. There has to be a better way and she certainly doesn’t think having provincial jail inmates cleaning trash out of highway road sides is the solution.
During her ten years as a school board trustee Russell served as the vice chair and negotiated seven of nine contracts signed.
 Russell is rock solid on her opposition to any kind of highway going through the Escarpment. Issue number two for Russell is the Escarpment and she makes the point that the issue over the Escarpment seems to be about transportation – which is fine with Russell but she adds that people are confusing the transportation of goods and the transportation of people. “We need to look at those two things differently” she said. Russell seems to be saying that getting a tractor trailer load of steel into Toronto isn’t worth destroying the Escarpment and North Burlington. The problem she adds is that if there is ever a highway put through the northern part of the city, the developers will want to build between that new highway and the 407/Hwy 5 road line – and if that happens “you can kiss the Burlington we know goodbye”.
As for the Liberal promise not to build the road, Russell raises an eyebrow and notes that “the Environmental Assessment hasn’t been stopped, has it?” “We can”, she goes on to say” “and should be looking for ways to use electricity to move people”.
When asked about the values that drive her she responded with “community” then “family”.. “If you are truly part of a community then you must contribute to the growth and welfare of that community. You get out what you put into it. You work to make it a better place, it is like being part of a larger family.
Each of the candidates was asked which comes first: the policy of their political party or the views of the community. Russell responded with: “The community, they elected me, I serve them. My job is to make sure this community’s voice is heard.”
When Russell met with NDP leader Andrea Horwath she says she made it clear to the party leader just where she stood on a number of issues. Russell is very good at making her point very clear. This is not a woman who minces her words. During our interview, the back and forth of questions and answers and follow up questions, Peggy reached out and touched my wrist and with a deep penetrating look said: “Pepper, you’re pulling my chain.” Peggy Russell does not like being taken off topic.
The Escarpment was major for Russell and the hospital right in there with it. No problems for Horwath on either of those. These two women would probably twin in terms of their thinking
Russell says that the politicians job is to be tough on the issues, not tough on the people. Her experience with the damage done to the province’s educational system when the Mike Harris Progressive Conservative government slashed and burned by closing schools and totally trashing the trustee system we had in place. Russell is very blunt in telling you that the province is still recovering from the Harris damage. “We lost close to two generations of students through high school drop out because of that government.”
Russell explains that whenever there was a problem with Queen’s Park “we would drive into Toronto and meet with the appropriate people one on one. It didn’t matter what it was – we would drive in and make our case. There wasn’t one school closed in Burlington on my watch” claims Russell.
 Former Burlington Mayor Walter Mulkewich held a fund raising BBQ for NDP candidate Peggy Russell then gave a rousing speech that reminded one of the days Mulkewich was running for office. For Russell being open to every idea possible before you make a decision is critical. “I don’t know everything. When I am asked to make a decision or to develop a policy I need to know what people think – and in order to know what they think I have to listen. I have to make myself available. There were many times when I didn’t know how I was going to vote on an issue at the school board. I certainly understood the question but I didn’t have the answers and so I taught myself to listen. I was prepared to be swayed, I think that’s important. I was certainly assertive in my quest for information.
During the course of the interview Russell suddenly blurted out: My third issue is affordability – and then she launched into how critical it is for things to be affordable to people.
Affordability: Many of our seniors are in trouble. They want to be able to stay in their homes and maintain the dignity they had when they were younger and more active.
Russell sees caring for the elderly as one of our biggest concerns and with the massive shift in the demographics of the province about to take place, her comments are important if she is going to sit in the provincial legislature and speak for Burlington.
 Russell tells her troops what they have ahead of them during a fund raising BBQ. Russell says “we have to change what we are paying people who are providing care. It’s not about budgets, its about people. True, but the programs have to be paid for and that means balancing a budget. The province is currently so broke that it has to go to the private sector and have someone build the hospital that then gets leased back to the province.
The chances of the New Democrats forming a government in Ontario are slim to non-existent. Does that mean electing Peggy Russell is a mistake? The current member of the Legislature really hasn’t done all that much for the city. Should Peggy Russell convince enough of the voters in this city to vote for her – one thing is certain – she will speak loudly and I suspect very effectively for Burlington.
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