Conservation Halton advises that the Watershed Conditions Statement – Flood Outlook issued on July 13, 2024 has been upgraded to a Flood Watch.
Over the last hour, up to 50 mm of rain has fallen from localized thunderstorm activity through urban Burlington and Oakville. Watercourses in these areas are significantly elevated and at or near bankfull capacity. Additional rainfall will create significant runoff with saturated soil conditions and increase water levels further. Environment Canada has issued a Rainfall Warning suggesting that showers and thunderstorms will continue for the next few hours this afternoon.
This was the scene on literally dozens of roads. At one point there was what amounted to a creek running down the west lanes of Brant Street.
Areas of localized flooding in urban areas are likely. Municipalities, emergency services and individual landowners in flood-prone areas should be on alert. Regular inspection and removal of debris at culverts and drainage inlets is recommended.
All watercourses and shoreline areas should be considered dangerous during this time. Conservation Halton is asking all residents to stay away from watercourses, shorelines and structures such as bridges, culverts, dams and break walls. High water levels, fast flowing water, and slippery conditions along stream banks and shorelines make these locations extremely dangerous. Please alert children in your care of these imminent dangers.
Conservation Halton will continue to monitor stream and weather conditions and will issue an update to this Flood Watch message as conditions warrant.
This Flood Watch message will be in effect through Tuesday July 16, 2024 and will either be updated or terminated.
Animal Services will continue to host educational pop-ups at various rec centres and public libraries on Thursdays throughout the summer. Drop by to learn about coyote-proofing their property, and what to do if they see a coyote.
Last year a number of people were bitten by coyotes, one a very young child in the backyard.
If you can’t get to a Pop Up here are the rules you have to follow.
Stop feeding coyotes
Never feed coyotes. This includes intentionally feeding them or accidentally by leaving food waste on private or public property. Feeding coyotes teaches them to depend on human handouts and can cause them to become too familiar with humans. This can lead to aggressive behaviour near people and dogs.
The Coyote can be very dangerous. Never run if this is the way the animal is looking at you. Wave your arms and make a lot of noise.
Hand and ground feeding wildlife on private or public property is prohibited by the City’s Animal Control By-law (60-2005).
The City’s Lot Maintenance By-law (49-2022) requires waste, compost, pet food and animal food be stored in a clean and well-maintained manner so as to not attract rodents, vermin, insects, pests or wildlife, or create a health and safety hazard, save and except as permitted under the City’s Animal Control By-law.
Contraventions of By-law 60-2005 or By-law 49-2022 may be subject to a fine.
Animal Control Officers have the discretion to issue tickets of $250 or issue a court summons with an increased fine range from $500 up to a maximum of $100,000. A summons is usually reserved for serious offences and repeat offenders.
Coyote pups n their den.
Make sure garbage, compost and pet food are stored in a place coyotes cannot access.
On garbage collection day, place your garbage at the curb in the morning instead of the night before.
Dealing with coyotes
Coyote sightings are common. If you see a coyote, keep your distance and the animal will most likely avoid you. If you come across a coyote:
Stop and pick up small children and pets
Use hazing techniques – shout loudly and wave your arms high in the air
Back away slowly while remaining calm
Never run or turn your back on a coyote
If you see a sick or injured coyote, please fill out this form.
Coyote sightings and vocalizations may increase during season active times of the year such as:
January to February: mating season
March to May: den selection and pup rearing
September to December: dispersal of pack members
Understanding the benefits of coyotes in our ecosystem helps to promote a preserve healthy wild spaces.
If a coyote poses an immediate threat to public safety, call 9-1-1 and alert the Halton Regional Police Service (HRPS).
Deterring coyotes from your property
Coyote pups coming out of their den.
Residential neighbourhoods are an ideal coyote habitat. Water, shelter and food sources like garbage, pet food and birdfeeders make residential areas appealing to coyotes.
By-law 49-2022 is the City’s Lot Maintenance Bylaw. A property owner is responsible to keep their lot clean and clear of debris. Residents and property owners can make sure they comply with the bylaw by ensuring their property is tidy and clear of garbage, food, brush, long grass and wood piles which are ideal den sites for coyotes or other wild animals that attract coyotes. Backyard bird feeders are exempt under the City’s Lot Maintenance Bylaw (49-2022). They must be well maintained to avoid fines.
You can make your property less inviting to coyotes by:
Cleaning up after your dog, as coyotes are attracted to dog feces
Use wire screening to close off spaces around and under decks and sheds . Make sure the wire screening goes at least 20 centimetres underground
Putting up a two-metre-high fence that extends at least 20 centimetres underground
Removing all water and food sources from your yard, including birdseed and fruit that has fallen to the ground. These foods can also attract smaller animals that in turn attract coyotes
Removing long grass, dead brush and wood piles, as these provide potential den sites for coyotes or other wild animals that attract coyotes
Storing garbage, compost and pet food in a place coyotes cannot access, like a garage or shed
Using flashing lights and motion sensors
Hazing coyotes
Consistent hazing will scare off coyotes by re-instilling their fear of humans. Any time you see a coyote in a residential area, use hazing techniques to scare it away, such as:
Spraying the coyote with water from a garden hose or a water gun filled with vinegar
Throwing small rocks, large sticks, cans and or rubber balls near the coyote
Using air horns and whistles or banging pots
Waving your arms and making yourself look as big as possible
Yelling loudly
A coyote being taught how to howl
Protecting pets from coyotes
Never leave pets unattended. Coyotes can hunt cats and small dogs. They may view dogs as a threat to their territory or family. You can protect your pets by:
Keeping your pets on a short leash when walking outdoors. Ninety-two per cent of conflict between wildlife and dogs occurs when dogs are off-leash
Using caution on trails at dawn and dusk – this is when coyote activity is highest
Avoiding known den sites and thick vegetation where coyotes may seek cover. This is especially important in denning season (April to June) and the dispersal period (September to October) when coyote pups are leaving the den
Not leaving pets unattended in your backyard, especially in areas that back on to ravines or woodlots
Keeping cats indoors
Neutering and spaying dogs, as coyotes are attracted to and can mate with dogs that have not been spayed or neutered
The agenda for Tuesday’s July 16th, 2024, Council meeting itemizes a motion to again request that the Province stop development on the Millcroft greenspace by way of a Minster’s Zoning Order (MZO).
Both Millcroft Against Development (MAD) and Millcroft Greenspace Alliance (MGA) are supporting this decision by Council.
I find myself wondering why this is happening at this point in time.
I think the MZO ship has sailed. Let me tell you why.
There are some who claim that Premier Ford makes decisions to make his friends rich. I admit that some of the Premiers friends were going to become even richer had his Greenbelt plans come to pass but I don’t believe that he decides to do something because it will make a friend rich. I do think he makes decisions that he thinks are the right decision – making people rich is a consequence.
Doug Ford has a personal image of what Ontario should look like and he makes decisions based on that image: Ferris wheels, buy beer just about anywhere. He sees himself as a business person and makes business thinking based decisions. He never did learn that he was elected to serve the best interest of the people in Ontario.
If there was ever going to be an MZO it would have been done BEFORE the issue was sent to the Ontario Land Tribunal.
Does anyone really think that after putting his “friend” through the rigour and expense of an OLT hearing (it took 17 days for the hearing to be completed) that the Premier or the Minister of Municipal Affairs is now going to put pen to paper and issue the document that would negate what the OLT decided?
Both MGA and MAD make very good points. I think they are misguided, that will offend them and I apologize for that.
MGA points out that the OLT is in place to look at the evidence and issue a decision. Note that the decision has a lot of TASKs that have to be completed; the developer didn’t get
The OLT reached a decision in favour of the developer. There are conditions still to be met, one of which is obtaining consent from some neighbouring homeowners. MGA will continue to follow-up with all options to stop the development.
MAD team has met with their Legal Counsel and Planner with regards to this decision. In their view, we will not be successful in challenging this decision in the Ontario Courts, however the Minister of Housing still has the capability to issue a Minister’s Zoning Order to stop the development.
Mayor Marianne Meed Ward and Councillor Angelo Bentivegna.
On July 3, the MAD executive team met with Mayor Meed Ward, ward 6 Councillor Angelo Bentivegna, Effie Triantafilopoulos (MPP) and Zee Hamid (MPP). The points that MAD made are below.
Legal counsel and planner are of the view that the decision by the OLT was carefully worded to ensure that we would not be able to appeal to the courts on a matter of law. An OLT decision cannot be taken to the Courts). They did indicate that it was also possible to write to the Chair of the OLT to object however they are very hesitant to interfere with a Tribunal decision unless the errors are patently obvious which we do not think is the case in our situation. Consequently, the only avenue available is to get the Provincial government to overturn this decision with a Ministers Zoning Order.
MAD thought the following was wrong with the OLT decision:
The City carried out a thorough review of the application; engaging their internal experts and outside consultants. The process they followed was very fair with the public and the developer being fully engaged. Council was very careful not to arrive at a decision until the experts had completed their work. Of
City Council and their consultants were unanimous in their decision to allow the development of the condo on Dundas and against the development on the 92 homes on the golf course.
The development plans cal for the removal of the pond – it won’t be needed.
The OLT decision said: “this hearing is of a non-decision by City Council and therefore the Tribunal did not have regard to a Council decision as one was never made. In the course of a 17 day Hearing of evidence, the Tribunal reached its own conclusions and decision based on the evidence provided” So three years of work by the City, their internal experts and external experts was supplanted by a 17 day hearing with lay Co-chairs at the OLT.
The OLT decision makes the key point that “the Tribunal is directed to render a decision that it must be satisfied that the proposed development conforms to the City OP and the ZBA must conform with the OP and the draft PoS applications represent good planning and are in the public interest.”
This is what they are deciding yet they totally disregarded the City decision even though it is their Official Plan. They also had over 1,000 pages of public input they reviewed where not one person agreed with development on the golf course holes and two neighbourhood groups opposed the application along with the City.
From the OLT decision: “These Applications require balancing the private right to develop against the public interest in protecting open space and the environment.” It is clear that the OLT determined that it was far more important to protect the private right to develop over the public interest despite their mandate being to do what is in the public interest.
It is the view of MAD that the OLT is now there to protect the developers right to develop even though this is not in their mandate but doing what is in the public interest is.
The evidence presented at the OLT clearly showed that when the development was approved, a critical part of the approval of the development was to build the community around the existing golf course and that the golf course lands should be permanent open space (whether that is a golf course or park/open space). Secondly, in Burlington’s history, they have never rezoned parks and open space to residential even when it is privately owned park/open space. The last point is that, in our view, the price that Argo paid for this land recognized there was a significant risk associated with getting this rezoned ($5 million for 50%).
MAD has said: “We are now looking for the Province to step in and do what is right so hoping this will happen. Assuming it does, similar to the last provincial election, we will strongly support Effie and other regional MPP’s. If the province does nothing then we will make this a major campaign issue and support others who want to protect Greenspace.
There was a public meeting at which Mayor Meed Ward and Regional Chair Gary Carr said they would be pressuring the provincial government to issue a MZO. They weren’t able to get an MZO then – they are not going to get one now. Quite why Meed Ward and Bentivegna are making this effort now is hard to understand – unless they see a political advantage.
While unlikely, Meed Ward may have been asked by the province to request an MZO so that the province can be magnanimous and agree to have one issued. That, I agree is a stretch. The Premier cannot be comfortable with his 31% ranking. His LCBO move is blowing up in his face, the Science Centre decision is before the Courts where it might be overturned.
Anything in the way of an uptick in the Premier’s ranking would be welcome.
The proposed resolution is posted on the City of Burlington’s Website and is set out in full below.
MAD asks anyone who can attend in person to do so, in support of our City Council.
We expect this resolution to be passed at Council on Tuesday. Mayor Meed Ward has asked that MAD once again circulate a Petition in support of the City’s resolution. We ask that everyone sign this new Petition once it goes live next week.
The Motion:
Whereas the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) has issued a recent decision and interim order to approve the redevelopment of parts of the Millcroft Golf Course by the Millcroft Greens Corporation on June 12, 2024; and
Whereas Burlington Council is not requesting interference with the OLT process or ruling; and
Whereas Burlington Council is requesting the Province issue a Ministerial Zoning Order as there is limited time to act to save this area before shovels are in the ground for development; and
Whereas the parks and open space currently operating as the Millcroft Golf Course, is unique among golf courses, in that it is in an urban area, designed as a figure eight weaving among houses, functioning as natural storm water conveyance on a floodplain, and we know of no other golf course with these set of conditions; and
Whereas land use planning decision-making should always rest with local councils, professional and qualified staff, and the community, for maximum accountability, transparency, and democracy in adherence with applicable Official Plan documentation; and
Whereas in December 2022, following extensive community consultation, Burlington City Council unanimously declared opposition to the proposed residential development of the Millcroft Golf Course, particularly Areas A, B, C, and D of the development, and support in principle for the proposed residential development of Area E which is not on greenspace, and further brought these concerns to the attention of the OLT during the appeal hearing; and
Whereas Burlington City Council unanimously approved a resolution on September 26, 2023 requesting the province to issue a Ministerial Zoning Order to protect these lands from development, which it has the power to do at any time, to facilitate appropriate residential development in Area E and ensure the protection of the greenspace and natural areas from re-development of Areas A, B, C and D on the Millcroft Golf Course; and
Whereas Halton Regional Council unanimously approved a similar resolution on October 18, 2023 supporting the City of Burlington’s resolution for the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to protect the vital Millcroft Golf Course greenspace; and
Whereas the City of Burlington has recently adopted its 2022-2026 Work Plan, “From Vision to Focus”, detailing specifically Focus Area 3 on protecting and improving the natural environment and taking action on climate change; and
Whereas the protection of existing greenspace within the City of Burlington is crucial for the municipality to provide opportunities for access to both public and private green space for current residents and future generations; and
Whereas the City of Burlington has an abundance of options for development to achieve provincially mandated growth targets towards accomplishing the province’s goal of 1.5 million new homes by 2031, and it is not required to sacrifice greenspace or build on critical floodplains to accommodate Burlington’s share of housing as referenced in the 2022 – 2026 Burlington’s Work Plan: From Vision to Focus, Focus Area 1 Designing and Delivering Complete Communities; and
Whereas a recent Burlington Staff Report found a deficit of urban greenspace of 104 hectares to accommodate planned population growth for 2051; and
Whereas the City of Burlington can accommodate its share of new housing units in provincial priority areas such as GO stations, aging retail plazas, select growth areas, and major transportation station areas such as Plains Road and Fairview Street corridors; and
Whereas these growth areas are built into the City’s Official Plan and will more than accommodate new housing growth for the municipality; and
Whereas the needs and interests of Burlington residents are captured in the City’s Official Plan in effect and as adopted by Council in 2022 to provide clarity and certainty about planned future housing development sites, and does not include any requirements or need to redevelop the Millcroft Golf Course;
Now therefore be it resolved that Burlington City Council request the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, through its zoning order framework process, to issue a Ministerial Zoning Order to maintain the zoning permissions for Areas A to D of the proposed development of the Millcroft Golf Course as they existed prior to the June 12, 2024 OLT decision;
Be it further resolved that the Clerk forward the resolution to the Honourable Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario, the Honourable Doug Downey, AttorneyGeneral, the Honourable Paul Calandra, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and the Honourable Andrea Khanjin, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, Halton MPPs, Halton Local Municipalities, Michael Kraljevic, Chair of Ontario Land Tribunal and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario for their information.
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
Conservation Halton advises that the Watershed Conditions Statement – Flood Outlook issued on July 9, 2024 is being extended.
Conservation Halton advises that rain expected has the potential to flood the creeks.
Over the past four days, total rainfall of 50-105 mm has been measured across the watershed from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl and thunderstorm activity early Friday evening. As a result, watercourses within our jurisdiction remain elevated and continue to recede. Local soil conditions should be considered nearly saturated and capable of producing significant runoff if more rainfall occurs. Environment Canada is currently forecasting hot and humid conditions over the next few days with a chance of showers and risk of thunderstorms.
Widespread flooding is not anticipated, however, fast flowing water and flooding of low-lying areas, natural floodplains, and areas with poor drainage may be expected.
Conservation Halton is asking all residents and children to keep a safe distance from all watercourses and structures such as bridges, culverts, and dams. Elevated water levels, fast flowing water, and slippery conditions along stream banks continue to make these locations extremely dangerous. Please alert children in your care of these imminent dangers.
Conservation Halton will continue to monitor stream and weather conditions and will issue an update to this Watershed Conditions Statement – Flood Outlook message as conditions warrant.
This Watershed Conditions Statement – Flood Outlook will be in effect through Tuesday July 16, 2024.
Solving Canada’s housing affordability crisis requires addressing the mismatch of housing supply and need.
For too long, we have focused on building “sprawl and tall” – expensive houses further afield and small, costly units in high-rise buildings while neglecting critical segments of our housing system needed to accommodate a range of household incomes and sizes.
Unsold supply amid a housing crisis
Here is one stark mismatch: This year, the average vacancy rate for rental housing across the country reached its lowest level since 1988, the year the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. began keeping track.
Contrast that with the largest unsold inventory of condo units in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in seven years and the slowest sales since the financial crisis. The unsold stock is prevalent throughout the development pipeline from pre-construction sales to completed units.
Thousands of approved condo units haven’t even made it to the showroom. Data firm Urbanation found 60 projects comprising 21,500 units in the GTA have failed to launch at all since 2022.
Data from Altus shows sales of houses are also lagging. New, completed single-family homes in the GTA fell by 62 per cent in May from the same month last year, suggesting that developers in the low-rise and high-rise markets are waiting for inventory to be absorbed before building more.
A rental apartment complex under construction, bottom centre, at a new housing development in Langford, B.C., May 30, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Lack of affordable housing and rising rents
Also misaligned are household incomes and rental rates. Research at the University of British Columbia found 20 per cent of Canadian households cannot afford housing costs including utilities greater than $1,050 per month, while another 20 per cent cannot pay more than $1,600 per month.
By comparison, the average market asking rent nationwide is more than $2,200, with one-bedrooms in Vancouver and Burnaby fetching $2,700 and more than $2,500 respectively.
This gap between what households can afford and what the market can charge cannot be filled by our feeble supply of social housing (a.k.a. public housing or “community housing”), which accounts for about 3.5 per cent of existing housing stock while 95 per cent is in the private market. The waitlist for subsidized housing is 12 years in Toronto and eight years in Montreal.
Meanwhile, in Ontario, proposed legislation could require municipalities to expand their urban boundaries into farmland, greenspace and wetlands (outside the protected greenbelt) for the development of large houses that few families can afford.
The good news is we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to start fixing the mismatch.
Perhaps the most alarming mismatch is seen in housing expert Steve Pomeroy’s research into the loss of affordable homes: Canada lost 10 affordable units for every new one built over a decade. Therefore, our first step to solving the housing crisis is to preserve our existing affordable housing stock from financialization and demolition.
Build for end users rather than investors
Part of the problem is the development financing system, which requires developers to pre-sell most of their units to secure financing from lenders. When interest rates are low and real-estate prices keep ticking up, investor demand is high. Since at least 2018, the GTA has boasted more cranes in the sky than any other city in North America.
Our reliance on an investor-driven housing market has pushed up prices all over the map as end-user homebuyers have been forced to bid higher and higher to compete with those who have deeper pockets. Investors also influence the types of units constructed – predominantly one-bedrooms, studios or micro-condos in tall buildings that optimize profitability.
Not only are these smaller condos not matched to the needs of many households, but if municipalities continue to meet their intensification goals with mostly small units in very tall buildings, it can increase car-dependent sprawl and drive up greenhouse gas emissions because single-family homes in former farm fields become the only attainable three-bedroom family-friendly housing option.
Townhouses under construction in the Blatchford neighbourhood in Edmonton, Alberta, on April 12, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/Don Denton
Redirect resources to the right areas
Even as conventional construction slows down, governments can redirect some of their financing and incentives toward non-traditional segments of the housing system, if only to ensure we don’t lose trades people.
In recent years a shortage of skilled trades workers contributed to Canada’s housing crunch. Yet, the pullback in residential construction is leading to job losses in skilled trades – a trend that experts fear could inhibit apprenticeships to feed this critical labour pool.
The new federal housing plan commits a suite of incentives, such as removing the GST, to stimulate the construction of purpose-built rentals that can help offset high interest rates.
However, a separate analysis by Pomeroy demonstrates that the federal rental construction finance initiative is producing rental units priced at market or above-market rates.
Stack savings to scale not-for-profit housing
We can harness this moment to build more affordable and attainable rental housing not only by directly subsidizing the building of more social housing but also by financing not-for-profit developers, housing co-operatives, land trusts and community housing corporations.
This sector can reduce costs by 20 to 25 per cent by greatly reducing the profit margin normally anticipated on development projects.
The Institute for Research of Public Policy’s Affordability Action Council recommends stacking these off-the-top cost savings with other initiatives such as preferential federal financing, priority access to public land, construction grants and a range of incentives already being directed to the private sector.
For example, co-operatives could build mixed-income communities with a range of units priced for low- to middle-income households.
Target the missing middle
We can also redeploy labour and resources to build thousands ofsecondary suites, multiplexes, stacked townhomes and small apartment buildings throughout existing urban and suburban residential neighbourhoods, which is now possible thanks to rezoning in most municipalities.
However, a concerted effort by all orders of government is required to remove a myriad of secondary barriers to make the missing middle cost-effective and replicable, such as innovations in financing and mortgages, pre-approved designs and full-service municipal programs with help from the federal housing accelerator fund.
Although often dismissed as insignificant, the missing middle can add up. Last year, accessory dwelling units comprised up to 22 per cent of total housing permits in Guelph and 18 per cent in Waterloo. Scaling the missing middle throughout our communities offers attainable family-friendly alternatives to more car-dependent single-family houses.
Recycle single-family homes owned by older Canadians
Finally, Canada has eight million single-family dwellings, most of which are occupied by older generations who will age out of their homes at some point.
If a seniors housing strategy could be developed to build desirable housing options that aging Canadians want to live in – for instance, small congregate living or co-ownership – more seniors would likely move sooner and by choice, freeing up millions of single-family houses for younger and newcomer families.
Housing is more than a unit count. What, where and for whom we build is as important as how much. We need to target the right housing supply while creating livable communities. We have this moment to get started.
Cherise Burda is the former executive director of Toronto Metropolitan University’s City Building Institute. She is an active member of the IRPP’s Affordability Action Council and the Task Force for Housing and Climate. This article was originally published by Policy Options magazine.
We ran a short piece on comments ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman made on some polling data that had been released to the public. There is a link to articles on that polling data below.
Sharman said: “The irony is that the stop the expansion, stop development sprawl, save the farms, folks would have caused the future density to have been even greater than the province regulations anticipated. Irrespective, massive density and sky high home prices are exactly related to people living longer, low child birth rates, leading to economic collapse without significant immigration increasing and therefore huge demand for new homes, homeless people, at a time when supply is low for whole number of reasons. Governments have not had an adequate future view in the past and now we are paying the price.”
Graham, a frequent commentator on articles we publish responded with:
Sharman really drinks the Koolaid on “Economic Collapse” without massive immigration. Japan has resisted too much immigration for decades and focused on things like automation to replace many jobs requiring humans.
In the 1980’s I spent a lot of time there seeing things like factories that had Robots making Robots.That was 40 years ago!!!!
Sharman wasn’t prepared to let a comment like that stand and responded with:
Paul Sharman commenting at city council.
“Re economic collapse, is a matter of time, clearly not any time soon. But with lack of planning for the future, looking at the 2024 population pyramid, what you see is a banana which becomes worse as the population ages. Older people, surprisingly, do not have children and we now see the resulting reduction in child births:
“United Nations data explains:
The current birth rate for Canada in 2024 is 10.006 births per 1000 people, a 0.66% decline from 2023.
The birth rate for Canada in 2023 was 10.072 births per 1000 people, a 0.75% decline from 2022.
The birth rate for Canada in 2022 was 10.148 births per 1000 people, a 0.74% decline from 2021.
The birth rate for Canada in 2021 was 10.224 births per 1000 people, a 0.74% decline from 2020.
“This is no cool aid, simple facts and data, not scare tactics and no cool aid. Simply, we are aging out and as you project the numbers, the potential outcome is completely understandable. Question, without immigration, where will the babies come from? Asking Canadian women in childbearing years to volunteer to have 10 babies each going forward may not get a positive response…….”
In Burlington members of Council rarely respond to what their constituents have to say. Kudos to Sharman for being prepared to mix it up a little. Governing is a process that requires the elected and the electors have to engage each other.
Hopefully Graham will add his surname to what we know about him.
Nanos, a national polling organization and the Oakville, Milton and District Real Estate Board, released a report on opions people held about housing issues.
Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman brought it to the attention of Council members and commented on the content at some length.
Sharman points out what densification has come to mean to Burlington: the city is required to be 82% high rise buildings; 12% mid rise and 6% low density. The high rise and mid-rise will be infill because we have had essentially no greenfield land to build on. The Alinea properties did provide some extra green field land.
Were local governments making the right decisions?
RATING LIFE IN THE REGION
Residents of the regions gave the top rating to their community as a place to raise a family (Oakville mean of 8.3 out of 10, Burlington mean of 8.5, Halton Hills mean of 8.2, Milton mean of 7.5), and also gave high ratings to their region’s overall quality of life and as a safe place to live. All regions receive lower grades on being a place to take public transit, with a very poor grade in Halton Hills (mean of 3.4) and Milton (mean of 4.2). The region as a place where one can afford to buy a home scored the lowest (mean of 3.4 overall).
DIRECTION OF THE REGION
Residents of the Towns of Oakville (52%), Halton Hills (54%) and the City of Burlington (53%) are more likely to say the region is moving in the right direction than the wrong direction (35%, 33%, 33% respectively), while residents of Milton are split with 46 per centwho say the Town is moving in the wrong direction and 43 per centin the right direction. Asked why they have that opinion, residents who think things are moving in the wrong direction mentioned the construction/development and the population growth that they believe is happening too fast (29% each).
REASON THEY LIVE IN THE REGION
Residents most frequently say the main reason they live in their community is because they grew up there and have been there a long time (high of 31% in Halton Hills, low of 21% in the Town of Oakville), or that they like the area and they believe it to be a nice place to live (14% overall). Just over one in ten also mentioned they live in the region because their family/friends live here (13%) or for jobs/work (11%).
PIECE OF ADVICE FOR THE REGION
The most frequent piece of advice residents had for their region was to ensure the City/Town grows at a manageable rate (24% of residents). This was followed by improving public transit and improving infrastructure/ roadways (nine percent each) and improving traffic (eight per cent).
Key Findings – State of Housing
HOUSING AFFORDABILITY IN THE REGION
A majority of residents from the Towns of Oakville (71%), Milton (70%)and Halton Hill (74%) and the City of Burlington (68%) say housing affordability in their community has worsened or somewhat worsened compared to five years ago. An additional one in ten say it has somewhat worsened (Oakville: 11%, Milton: 10%, Halton Hills: 9%, Burlington: 13%).
PREFERRED HOME TYPES OVERALL
About two thirds of residents of the region report living in a single detached family home (63% overall, 77% in Halton Hills). And additional one in ten say they currently live in a Town house (13%). Asked which type of housing they would want to live in, three quarters say they want to live in a single detached family home (74% overall, 85% in Halton Hills).
PREFERRED HOME TYPE IF DOWNSIZING
Asked which type of housing they would prefer to live in if they were to downsize, residents say they would want to downsize to a smaller single detached home (32% overall, 43% in Halton Hills, 28% in Burlington). Just over one in ten want to downsize to a Townhouse (11%).
SUPPORT FOR BUILDING SECONDARY/GARDENSUITES
Residents of the region are more likely to support or somewhat support allowing homeowners in their community to build a secondary or garden suite on their property (Oakville: 56%, Halton Hills: 66%, Burlington: 56%) than oppose or somewhat oppose this (Oakville: 28%, Halton Hills:26%, Burlington: 33%). On the other hand, residents of the Town of Milton have split opinions on this topic (43% support/somewhat support; 42%oppose/somewhat oppose).
PREFERRED APPROACH FOR NEW HOUSING*
Asked which approach they prefer for new housing in Oakville, opinions were shared between having a mix of units being added to existing homes on residential streets and high-rise apartment/condo towers being build around GO stations (32%) and Building high-rise apartment towers around GO Transit Stations and limiting units being added to existing homes (31%). Nearly one quarter prefer adding units to existing homes and limit high-rise apartment towers around GO transit stations (22%).
CONVERTING SINGLE-FAMILYHOMES
One third of residents say single-family homeowners should be able to convert their home into a duplex (34%). This was followed by under one in four who say they should be able to convert their single-family homes into a semidetached home (23%),a triplex (20%), a fourplex (18%) and a Town home (17%). Of note, nearly one third say homeowners should not be able to convert their single-family home in any of the above (32%).
The vast majority of the people who took part in a recent poll on housing want what is no longer being built in Burlington.
Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman
Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman said: “The irony is that the stop the expansion, stop development sprawl, save the farms, folks would have caused the future density to have been even greater than the province regulations anticipated. Irrespective, massive density and sky high home prices are exactly related to people living longer, low child birth rates, leading to economic collapse without significant immigration increasing and therefore huge demand for new homes, homeless people, at a time when supply is low for whole number of reasons. Governments have not had an adequate future view in the past and now we are paying the price.”
Jamie Tellier, Director of Community Planning and Nick Anastasopoulos, Director of Building Services and Chief Building official entertained the members of the Pipeline to Permit Standing Committee of Council
Tellier, who has a very engaging manor, started by saying: “we’re going to do something fun here if you actually allow me to. As of this morning, the database that we’ve talked about, the database that creates these charts behind the scenes is now live on our web page. So if you just give me a minute here to share my screen, I’m going to show you this, and it’ll start to answer a lot of the questions that we’ve had at previous meetings here. So bear with me for one second as I share my screen.
“I’ve taken you to the city of Burlington pipeline to permit web page. Okay, so anyone can access this, and as you scroll down the page, you’ll see the pipeline or permit self serve dashboard, okay? And then you have two options as well. There’s a desktop if you’re at your computer, and there’s also a mobile if you’re on your phone.
“But for today, we will look at the desktop version, since I’m using a computer, and when I click on this good it is showing up. Here it is.”
Tellier began explaining in great detail how the data base worked and what you could expect from it.
Link to the desktop version of the Pipeline to Permit data base
In a separate article to follow we will take you through what the data means and how it will be used to track the rate at which housing development is taking place.
For this article we have shown the two screens that people can work with. You of course need to link to the data base (link shown above) to interact.
Members of CUPE Local 966 (Canadian Union of Public Employees) addressed Region of Peel councillors over concerns about the Ford Government’s secrecy around recommendations made by the Peel Transition Board, including the possibility of privatizing necessary public services like the region’s water and wastewater.
What does this matter to the City of Burlington? What Premier Ford decides to do in Peel is what he is likely going to want to do with the Region of Halton. A Legislative Standing Committee is currently research and deliberating on what should happen to the Region of HAlton going forward.
Whatever gets decided for Peel Region will impact decisions made about Halton Region.
Planning at the Regional level is in the process of being shifted to the municipalities.
“While Doug Ford has backtracked on plans to dissolve the region entirely, plans for the future of the region are still being kept a secret,” said CUPE 966 President Salil Arya, who represents municipal workers in the Region of Peel. “Important decisions that will affect Peel residents and our members like the privatization of public services are being made in the dark without transparency or public knowledge and it’s unacceptable.”
Last month, news broke that the Peel Transition Board could be recommending the privatization of water and wastewater, a decision that could impact on the quality of the region’s water and take control of its most valuable resource out of public hands.
“Peel residents pushed back last year when the province wanted to dissolve the region, and Ford backed down,” said CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn. “The stakes are even higher if Ford is planning to privatize Peel’s water, because we’re talking about a necessity of life. If it takes another fight by residents to keep Peel water in public hands, CUPE Ontario will be there.”
CUPE 966 called on the Region of Peel to demand that the Ford government release the recommendations made by the transition board, and to reject any plans to privatize public services.
Halton Waste Water treatment plant.
There are a number of services that are Regional: Social welfare; some roads, water and waste removal as well as some services that should perhaps be Region wide, such as transit.
There are changes taking place that the province isn’t saying very much about. We are of course being told about being able to buy beer and mixed drinks at the corner store soon and we are supposed to be impressed with not having to take care of license plate renewal.
The Ontario Science Centre has to be torn down, based on some very conflicting reports.
Shifting to a political perspective, Tom Parkin, writing under a headline that declares: No premier has been able to escape defeat since at least 2011 when their approval rating is 31%; data that came from the Angus Reid Institute quarterly survey data.
At 31 per cent, Ford now has the lowest job approval score of any premier surveyed, according to the latest quarterly survey, released June 26. The quarterly Premier approval survey excludes only Prince Edward Island.
Premier Doug Ford: Not a happy camper; public is hearing a lot of bluster – no clear vision other than silly tricks that add little to the quality of life for most people.
The 31 per cent level appears to mark the edge of a political black hole for premiers and prime ministers. Since at least 2011, no premier or prime minister whose job approval score passed below 31 per cent has been able to escape the pull of defeat.
During June, Ford revealed a controversial and expensive plan to shut The Beer Store and give its sales to grocery and convenience stores, faced continued opposition to his plan to shutter the Ontario Science Centre, and began to fuel early election speculation. Unemployment also rose to 7.0 per cent, well above the national average and the number of full-time jobs declined by 7,400.
Despite Ford’s low personal score, his PC Party’s support remains high on his opponents’ troubles.
Marit Styles, Leader of the NDP opposition is doing a superb job. She has yet to break through in terms of a profile that people will like once they get to know her.
Polls show that as people get to know NDP leader Marit Stiles her positive score rises, but nearly half still cannot make a positive or negative assessment.
Bonnie Crombie: Liberal Party leader looking for a seat in the Legislature hasn’t found the traction many thought would make her a natural to lead the province.
Voters are getting to know Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie faster, but as they do, her negatives rise and her positive impression score remains stalled.
The insurance industry can at times be a bit of a damper on what people need in the way of liability insurance.
The City needs liability coverage – without it in place any lawsuits land on the city. And people are quick to sue the city because municipalities tend to settle rather than let a claim go to court.
A group of citizens took on the task of cleaning up some of the tombstones at the Union Cemetery (UEL) in the west end of the city. The site is the burial ground for many of the people who built the city.
Gates to the Union Burial Grounds on Plains Road yards from IKEA.
The event took place – at a cost, a considerable cost – they were required to put up $5 million of liability insurance. Our source has been involved in community work for decades but would not permit a name to be used – Burlington can be nasty with people who make critical remarks about how the city handles some issues. City hall staffers remember when people object to some of the decisions that are made.
The assembly of posters on the south side of Lakeshore Road north of Spencer Smith Park required liability insurance that is not cheap.
Tombstones that are being restored.
A number of months ago representatives from the hospitality sector had to fight very hard to get the city to reduce the size of the liability coverage if they were using city space for the patios they were opening that took up city owned space. The city wanted $5 million of liability coverage Restaurateurs explained that there had never been a claim anywhere near $2 million. It took some pushing on the part of the restaurateurs but they eventually were able to get the required liability coverage down to $2 million.
Why that figure is not made available to other groups is unfortunate. It puts a damper on what public groups want to do.
Odd that at least one member of Council doesn’t take this on and find a way to establish a liability insurance level that is fair to both the city and the people who have to pay the insurance fees.
You wonder, don’t you, why a Council member doesn’t do something for the people who elected them.
The makeup of Burlington’s organization chart is going to become known in bits and pieces.
Jacqueline Johnson is second from the right; Blake Hurley is to her left.
Jacqueline Johnson, seen at a Committee of the Whole this week, is the Commissioner of Community Services responsible for overseeing:
Transit
Recreation, Community and Culture
Fire
Customer Experience
Blake Hurley is the Commissioner for Legal and Legislative Services. He is also the City Solicitor. He is serving as Interim CAO while Hassaan Basit is away. Communications did not confirm that he is on vacation.
The current organizational chart for the City of Burlington
A better sense as to the size of the staffing compliment can be seen from the organizational chart for the Digital Services Division. The chart was a “for discussion” document. Roll your cursor over the image to enlarge the type.
The chart was published as a “for discussion” document.
Canadian Rents Increase by 7.0% in June, Marking Slowest Growth in Over a Year.
Average asking rents for all residential property types in Canada increased by 7.0% year-over-year in June, reaching an average of $2,185 per month according to Rentals.ca and Urbanation’s latest National Rent Report. This represents the slowest annual rate of growth in 13 months. On a month-over-month basis, average asking rents decreased by 0.8%, marking the largest decline since early 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and reversing the typical seasonal trend of rising rents at this time of year.
“Rents at the national level are clearly levelling out,” said Shaun Hildebrand, President of Urbanation. “At this stage of the market, strong rent increases are mainly limited to inexpensive cities, particularly in the Canadian Prairies, while larger markets dealing with severe affordability issues are seeing rents slow or fall.”Rents for purpose-built and condominium rental apartments fell by 1.0% in June from the previous month, averaging $2,146. Year-over-year, apartment rents increased by 9.0%, driven by an 11.0% rise in purpose-built rental rates, which now average $2,121. In contrast, condominium apartment rents saw a 2.6% increase, averaging $2,320.
In addition, studio rents for condominiums dropped by 5.1% annually to $1,823, while purpose-built studio rents surged by 14.6% to $1,613.Toronto rents fell to a 22-month low, with average rents for purpose-built and condominium units declining by 2.5% monthly and 3.5% annually to $2,715. Vancouver saw a 1.1% monthly increase but a 7.8% annual decrease, bringing the average rent to $3,042. Edmonton experienced the highest rent growth among major cities, with a 14.3% annual increase to $1,564, while Calgary’s rents grew by 4.2% to $2,092.
Montreal’s rents grew by 4.3% to $2,013, and Ottawa saw a slight increase of 1.5% to $2,179.Most provinces saw year-over-year rent increases, except for Ontario, where rents declined. In Ontario, rents for purpose-built and condominium apartments decreased by 1.7% from May to June and fell by 1.3% annually to $2,382. Quebec also saw a monthly decrease of 1.0%, but rents were up 5.1% year-over-year, averaging $1,979. Saskatchewan continued to lead the country with a 22.1% annual increase in rents, though they remain below the national average at $1,339.Shared accommodation listings recorded a 7.5% annual increase in asking rent across four provinces, averaging $989.
However, roommate rents in Toronto fell for the fourth consecutive month, down 1.7% monthly and 4.0% annually to $1,236. Ottawa also saw a decline, with roommate rents decreasing by 1.0% year-over-year to $938. Calgary led the growth in roommate rents with an 8.8% annual increase to $916, while Vancouver remained the most expensive city for shared accommodations at $1,471, up 1.2% annually.
The National Rent Report charts and analyzes monthly, quarterly and annual rates and trends in the rental market on national, provincial, and municipal levels across all listings on the Rentals.ca Network for Canada. The data from the digital rental platform Rentfaster.ca is incorporated into this report.Rentals.ca Network data is analyzed and the report is written by Urbanation, a Toronto-based real estate research firm providing in-depth market analysis and consulting services since 1981.*The data includes single-detached homes, semi-detached homes, townhouses, condominium apartments, rental apartments and basement apartments (outlier listings are removed, as are single-room rentals.)
Sunday’s turnout voting for the French National Assembly was the largest in over 40 years. The polls had predicted that rightwing party leader Marine Le Pen would win the most seats and thereby appoint her choice of prime minister for the republic. Though France also has a president he, Macron, would have been forced to bend policies to suit Le Pen.
And that would have been only the second time in history that France’s government had been largely run by a right wing Nazi party. Following France’s surrender, from 1940 to ’44, Adolf Hitler installed a traitorous anti-semitic former French general to govern the one third of France (the Vichy Regime) which Germany chose not to.
Marine Le Pen
Marine Le Pen’s father, a Holocaust denier, along with a former German SS officer started what was to become the National Rally (NR) in 1972. Le Pen, like America’s Trump and Hungary’s Orban, are admirers of Russian leader Putin. In Le Pen’s, she had also been bankrolled by a Russian bank. And her policies, were she to win, would be in sync with those of the Russian dictator: anti-environment, anti-immigration, anti-Semitic, anti-Islamic, anti-NATO, anti-European Union and anti-Ukraine.
French president Macron called for National Assembly elections after Le Pen’s party made surprising but significant gains in elections to the European Union parliament. It was a risky proposition but it kind of paid off. She cleaned up in the first round of voting. Then, despite the polls and pundits, Le Pen fell to third place in the second round.
It was a mixed blessing for Macron, whose centrist party also dropped to second, leaving the leftists, which had formed a coalition, with the largest number of seats in the Assembly. Macron will have to compromises with the left wing parties, some very opposed to his policies, in order to govern the country.
Adopting a page from Mr. Trump’s playbook, Le Pen immediately blamed her failures on an unfair election. Russian disinformation, no doubt, also played a crucial role in Le Pen’s initial success. Over 4400 Russian disinformation bot posts had been distributed across France and Germany since mid-November, according to ‘antibot4navalny’, a Russian media research collective.
Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron
France was only the second nation in Europe to buck the trend toward the seemingly growing popularity of right wing politics. Only a week earlier, British voters rebuked the governing Tories, virtually sweeping them into political oblivion for the time being. Albeit, as happens in their first-past-the-post system, they did this with only about a third of the popular vote.
There was a huge sigh of relief in most European capitals following the results of both of these elections. One wonders whether Americans will rally against poll-leading former president Trump, a convicted felon and pathological liar. That too will depend on whether democrats can convince the stubborn-minded Biden to swallow his ego and let someone else lead them into the election.
There are a few take-aways from what happened in France – a society among the most influential in our history of democracy. First, the polls cannot be trusted to reliably predict a political outcome. Even on the eve of the elections the pollsters got it wrong.
Second, when push comes to shove liberal democratic values still outweigh the alternatives in our free societies. Negative politics and disinformation may confuse some of the people some of the time, as it did with the Brexit vote in the UK. But change for the sake of change is not always the best option.
Justin Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh: Canada already has a de facto coalition government
Third, Le Pen was defeated because the splintered left wing opposition parties combined forces to win the bigger prize. Canada already has a de facto coalition government with progressive policies in place. But continuation of those policies is at risk once that Liberal-NDP compact expires in time for the next federal election. First-past-the-post works best with a two party system. The Conservatives understood that when they united their left and right wings.
As an interesting side bar, our modern concept of left and right winged politics has its roots in French politics. Following the French Revolution the social and conservative radicals sat respectively on the left and right in the French National Assembly.
Ray Rivers, a Gazette Contributing Editor, writes regularly applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was once a candidate for provincial office in Burlington. He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject. Ray has a post graduate degree in economics that he earned at the University of Ottawa. Tweet @rayzrivers
All businesses, regardless of sector or whether they’re based online or on physical premises, are under pressure to reduce their carbon footprint as much as they can in order to help the collective effort to reduce global warming. A lot of people would assume that businesses such as online casinos, due to the fact that they are ‘digital’ and ‘online’, wouldn’t necessarily apply to them. But it does.
The dealer is live.
A lot of the top online casinos now offer a live experience where you can play against a live dealer; a fine example of this is online at LuckyKoala Live Casino Canada. And of course, if they’re going to have a live dealer, they need physical premises. And so today we are going to look at the steps that some of the top online casinos that offer these live games are taking in order to reduce their carbon footprint while at the same time being able to offer that all-important immersive and engaging experience to their players.
How they are going eco-friendly
As well as having to provide physical premises for a live dealer, a lot of online casinos have their own offices for staff who perform duties such as software development, marketing, and customer service. Likewise, on data or network servers, whether they are remote or in-house, they can still be attributed in either way to that company’s particular carbon footprint. As the demand for online casinos increases, so does the power and processing capacity that these casinos need to function optimally and present their players with a seamless experience. Any top casino brand needs to have a robust and professional infrastructure in place.
Turning to renewables
Energy now comes from multiple sources; windmill farms are an example.
So if casinos are going to need more and more power and energy in the future, how do they go about this in as eco-friendly a manner as possible? Well, many of the top online operators are noticing that they need to do something and are moving towards having their systems rely on renewable energy rather than those backed by fossil fuels. This is energy typically used to power the technology behind their gaming platforms and also the servers, which, of course, accommodate and supervise all of the traffic going through their website. This option, however, needs to be thought about in quite a lot of detail as it can incur costs, and the transition needs to minimize disruption and therefore downtime of their website.
Another option?
Although casinos don’t want to have to go through the hassle of moving towards renewable energy to power their equipment themselves, either through time constraints or financial expenses, there is another option, and you may have heard of the term ‘cloud’ being bounced around various sectors within the technology field. It essentially means that a casino can operate all of its processing power remotely at a facility that is dedicated for such a purpose. The reason why this might be a popular option is that a lot of the companies offering cloud storage and processing already have eco-friendly and scale-able solutions in place to cope with the casino’s power consumption demands.
In Summary
The biggest factor in changing the climate is individual behaviour.
Ideally, this has given you a bit of insight into the infrastructure that the online casinos need to have established and in place in order to deliver the experiences they do to players like me and you. And at the same time, the challenges and options that are there and available to them should make them want to start taking steps in order to try and be more eco-friendly and to also reduce their carbon footprint, doing their bit as a business to help combat climate change.
When a soldier is seriously wounded in battle, they typically need to be treated early with blood and plasma to improve their likelihood of survival, but because of the way our blood components are currently formulated they cannot always be delivered quickly in the field.
To help save the lives of injured soldiers in combat zones, Canadian Blood Services in partnership with the Department of National Defence and Veterans Affairs Canada, is working to revive an innovative solution, the use of dried blood components. Dried plasma can save lives as it can be much more easily administered on the battlefield. It can be stored at room temperature and requires less storage space, meaning that soldiers can carry it into combat for medics to administer on the spot. A Canadian supply of dried plasma may also benefit civilians who suffer traumatic injuries.
“The Canadian Armed Forces depends on Canada’s blood authorities to support its members at home and abroad. We value our relationship and this important collaboration with Canadian Blood Services,” Major-General Scott Malcolm, Canadian Armed Forces Surgeon General, says.
During the Second World War and the Korean War dried serum was used extensively in battlefield surgery and was produced in Canada. However, for blood safety reasons the program was discontinued. Since then, there have been many advances in the safety of the blood system and dried plasma is once again being considered to support battlefield medicine.
Canadian Blood Services has been funded by Veterans Affairs Canada on behalf of the Department of National Defence to carry out the necessary research to work towards re-establishing the ability to produce dried plasma with the addition of modern testing and pathogen reduction processes. This important collaboration is expected to also have domestic benefits for the Canadian blood system.
“Innovative research partnerships like this collaboration with the Canadian Armed Forces are an important foundation of Canadian Blood Services’ commitment to put the needs of patients first and provide lifesaving support to people in need, including military personnel on the battlefield and civilians in trauma settings.” Graham Sher, CEO of Canadian Blood Services says.
By Staff
Conservation Halton advises that the Watershed Conditions Statement – Flood Outlook issued on July 13, 2024 has been upgraded to a Flood Watch. 
