 November 1, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. Doctors will tell you that children under five are at the highest risk for serious illness from influenza. With the weather cooling off and a new flu season fast approaching, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Arlene King is asking parents to make sure their children get the flu shot.
The highest numbers of flu cases are in the one to four-year old age group. Dr. King stresses that the sooner kids get the flu shot the better since it takes about two weeks to become fully effective.
 Burlington MPP Jane McKenna gets her annual flu shot from Anita Sahu at the Rexall Pharmacy on Guelph Line. Children between the ages of six months and four years old can get their flu shot at doctors’ offices and at public health or community flu immunization clinics.
Burlington MPP Jane McKenna gets her annual flu shot from Anita Sahu at the Rexall Pharmacy on Guelph Line.
For parents, caregivers and children aged five and up, thousands of Ontario pharmacists will also be offering free flu shots as part of the Ontario government’s Universal Influenza Immunization Program, designed to make it more convenient for people to protect themselves and others from the spread of influenza.
This year, pharmacists at almost 2,000 drug stores across Ontario will be fully trained and ready to deliver free flu shots – roughly triple the number of pharmacy locations as last year.
Jane McKenna, MPP for Burlington, and one of the healthiest people we know, got herself over to the Rexall pharmacy on Guelph Line where pharmacists Anita Sahu did the deed and ensured that the MPP will be able to continue standing in the provincial Legislature barking away at what the government isn’t doing to make the province economically healthy.
McKenna, a first term parliamentarian, quickly became an ideologue and bought into every word the provincial Tories wrote in the Change Book. .
How Blue is Jane McKenna? As she was filling in the forms to get her flue shot she asked aloud – “What’s the date today? November 1st replied her daughter Taylor who was with her. “Oh – today is Tim Hudak’s birthday”replied McKenna.
McKenna is now the Progressive Conservative critic for Economic Development, Trade & Employment; one of the weightier portfolios that usually has an experienced parliamentarian with some depth in business. McKenna plans on holding a Round Table on the Economy sometime in the New Year.
The flu shot is now available in Ontario and Rexall is one of the pharmacies that has made it easy and convenient for Ontarians to receive the vaccine by offering it at any store, at any time, any day – no appointment necessary.
Last year was the first year pharmacists were able to administer immunizations in Ontario and, and according to Rexall, 80% of flu shots given by pharmacists were at a Rexall.
According to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, the flu and its complications result in up to 1,000 hospitalizations and 1,600 deaths in Ontario each year.
 October 31, 2013
By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. A 4:00 am break-in at a Dequincy Crescent home woke the residents who found themselves staring at a male intruder who said he was armed. The resident later told police they did not actually see a weapon.
The intruder proceeded to search the house and took a quantity of cash, alcohol, jewellery and two firearms: a 12 gauge shotgun and a .22 calibre rifle. The male was last seen leaving the residence on foot.
Investigation revealed that the male suspect had forced entry to the house through the front door. The homeowners were uninjured and called Halton Regional Police.
The suspect is described as male, white, 20-30 years of age, 5’7″-6’0″ tall, thin build with light brown hair.
The suspect is described as male, white, 20-30 years of age, 5’7″-6’0″ tall, thin build with light brown hair.
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Three District Criminal Investigations Bureau at 905-825-4747 ext 2315, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), www.haltoncrimestoppers.com, or text “Tip201” with your message to 274637 (crimes).
 October 31, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. It doesn’t take long to get the gist of Murray Hogarth. If you listen and watch his eyes you realize that Murray did it his way – he beat the big guys, he beat big oil.
He did it through hard work and being very fast on his feet. With a very successful company running smoothly Murray Hogarth was able to turn the whole operation over to two of his sons and use his time keeping a sharp eye on them.
Born in Napanee, raised there – after high school he got himself along the 401 to Kingston where he enrolled as an engineering student at Queen’s University and realized very quickly that wasn’t the road he wanted to travel and switched to Arts & Science but found that all the lab work wasn’t all that inspiring either. Murray realized he was a doer – he needed to be out in the field, talking to people, thinking through his ideas and planning. Murray was probably born a planner.
During his high school years he had an orchestra – 10 piece set up that he used to earn his keep. Blew a trumpet and played events that included his high school and the Ontario Ladies College in Brockville.
 Murray and Diana Hogarth in the sun room of their Lakeshore Road home. Murray`s parents ran a retail operation in Napanee that specialized in gift items and fine china. He worked the shop with his brother when he wasn`t renting the golf club for dances. Murray was probably making money before he was out of short pants.
In `53 he was hired by what was then British American Oil company (they became Gulf oil) and given a territory in Scarborough where he made sure 40 gas stations were meeting their sales targets. Murray soaked it all up and within a year the company moved him to Windsor where it was a much bigger business. He watched over the gas stations as well as farm and industrial accounts.
 The first Pioneer gas station – it didn’t look like this the day it opened but it has been open every day since November 1956. In those days there were very few individual gas station operators to speak of; everything was run by the national brands – the Americans had private operators but the idea hadn`t taken hold in Canada – yet. One of the corporate accounts Murray serviced was a single station – Beaver, that grew and was eventually sold to Shell Oil. But before that sale took place Murray became a chum of the owner and the two of them tried some of the American ideas – Murray was in the process of becoming the man who would create the most successful private brand oil and gas operation in the country. The only thing they don`t do is refine or run a pipeline operation – yet.
Windsor was a great proving ground for Murray. If you saw an opportunity you were able to go ahead and develop it. The relationship with the Beaver operator flourished. They liked the ideas they saw being developed across the river in Detroit and tried many of them in Windsor. After two and a half years in Windsor Murray began to wonder why he was working for big oil – he made his move.
Every weekend Murray would drive to Hamilton and scout that market. He knew the blue-collar market and he believed he knew how to market to it better than anyone else. He didn’t know a soul in town when he first got there but he knew he needed a market just like Windsor and focused on Hamilton. He found what he was looking for at the corner of Upper James and Mohawk. Murray leased the land, which he later bought and began to build the empire that today has 200 stations in Ontario and a clutch of them in Manitoba where he took over a bunch of Esso Stations.
There was a bit of swamp on the land that Murray was going to build his station on and he knew that at some point he would need to fill that in. Then he noticed a contractor doing some grade work and hauling away the fill. Murray invited the contractor to dump that fill in the swampy land he had leased.
 Murray Hogarth: Reflective and able to focus on pet project with the operation of the gas companies now in the hands of his sons. That Upper James station is still operating – it has never closed since he first opened in November of 1956. It began as a 24/7 operation and has stayed that way. When Murray chose that first Hamilton station the world of gas stations first saw the wily mind of a mater marketer. In those days Upper James and Mohawk were just across the County line – and Hamilton had an early closing bylaw. That first Pioneer station was 150 feet beyond the County line.
Murray saw Hamilton as a market that was small enough for a private operator to be recognized yet big enough for him to grow in. And grow he did. Buying property meant a need for capital or earnings that could pay for the second and third stations.
Murray put his money into property and marketing. In the early days he will tell you gas stations didn’t have canopies over the pumps; Murray put in canopies. Most of the stations were a single island with maybe two pumps. Murray wanted volume so he put in three islands with two pumps at each so that four, six or eight cars could swallow that gas.
Gas stations were pretty bland looking places. Murray brightened them up and because he stays open long hours he put in as much fluorescent lighting as he could afford. He gas station business was never going to be the same.
He put up bunting, flags and offered deals and lower prices. In those days stations carried several brands of oil at different price points. Murray carried several and made sure that the brand with his name on it was the lowest price.
He was the first to put booths with cash registers out where the pumps were so that people could pay quickly and move on – making room for another customer.
He was one of the very first, if not the first, to create a loyalty program that gave customers another reason to return. Car washes were added to the mix.
 Created marketing tools that led the way. The Pioneer loyalty program rewards its customer with cash rebates that are printed on the receipt. Air Miles doesn’t give you that. Growing the business was no slam dunk – there was more than one very close call – three of them in fact , but what kept the chain alive was Murray’s ability to make quick decisions. “I didn’t have a board that I had to meet with”; one gets the impression that Murray Hogarth isn’t all that big on corporate committees either.
Listening to Murray explain the corporate structure and the way he moved two of his sons into the company and gave them increasing levels of responsibility, one assumes the man has an MBA. No, Murray worked from the pit of his stomach and a developed understanding of his customer base. He learned by doing and from his mistakes. He looked for opportunities to give staff all the responsibility they could handle. He was a task master – with a heart.
While retired, it doesn’t take long to see a pair of eyes that don’t miss much and at the same time have that twinkle that tells you – Murray Hogarth did it his way – and he beat the big guys. He did it with a strong, supportive wife who may not have actually pumped gas but she was in every one of those stations in the early days and when Murray leaves out a fact – she is quick to remind him that they acquired a string of stations in Manitoba from Esso.
 Diana Hogarth – five boys and a husband build a business doth a career make. She is also a noted designer. Murray first laid eyes on Diana when she was ten. She was the sister of one of Murray’s best friends. Years later that friend asked Murray to go to a dance with him – Murray couldn’t hustle up a date and the friend suggested he ask his sister Diana. “Ask her just for laughs” the friend suggested and the Murray and Di story began. The two of them, almost in unison say: “and we’ve ben laughing ever since”.
We interviewed Murray and Diana Hogarth in the sun room of their Lakeshore Road home, nicely decorated with good art and sculpture tastefully sprinkled throughout the house. Murray soaks up the sun as he recovers from surgery. With the interview nearing its end Diana gets up to see her guest out and touches Murray on the shoulder asking: “Are you ready for some lunch”.
Today, son Tim is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company while another son heads up the marketing side.
Arching over the different t corporations is the “family” firm – Pioneer Energy where Murray, Di and the five boys sit as Directors with two outside directors to create strategy and guide everything.
Murray took in part of the Community Foundation celebration last weekend. Recovering (very nicely by the way) from serious surgery, he chose not to give a speech and had his son Tim fill in for him.
Tim was not there to laud his parents. He spoke about giving back to the community and the lessons his Dad had taught him and his brothers.
“Typical of my father’s entrepreneurialism” said Tim, “Murray recognized that while we can’t always predict what lies ahead, we can always make sure we are prepared to seize the opportunity or meet the need when it arises. And that is what this is all about. It’s never too late… philanthropy, as Murray and Diana have proven time and again, has no retirement age.”
Tim had taken up the philosophical torch from his Dad.
Murray was big on giving back to a community that has given to him. His early involvement in growing community was with the Hamilton Community Foundation where he served as president. He reminds people that Hamilton and Burlington didn’t always work that well together. Burlington wasn’t contributing the way some felt it should and Murray got behind a movement to create a Burlington Community Foundation, and was its first president. “I wrote them their first cheque” he adds with a modest measure of pride.
Diana – they call her Di, runs the household and still puts in time at her design business. Do not call Diana Hogarth a decorator – “decorators”, she will tell you, almost dismissively, “paint walls or hang wall paper”. Diana is a designer and if the sun room we met in is an example of her work – there are a number of homes in this community that have been very, very nicely done.
She and Murray raised five boys, two of whom are in the family business. Between them they have 13 children. Gregory, twins Tim and Geoffrey, Christopher and Peter. Tim and Geoffrey are at Pioneer. Peter, Tim and Greg are heavily involved in the franchise business with Wendy’s and Tim Hortons being their biggest operations. Peter is also in the home building business.
Murray and Diana Hogarth were recognized last weekend by the Burlington Community Foundation as the Philanthropists of the Year. The evening they were recognized, the family announced a gift of $1 million to the Joseph Brant Hospital which they gave through the Burlington Community Foundation.
A small room that serves as a bit of an office just inside the front door of their home, that has every inch of its walls covered in either book shelves or pictures that Diana refers to as the “rogue’s gallery”. The pictures capture the boys and their families – there are 13 grandchildren, at the various stages of their lives.
Tim said to the audience at the Masquerade Ball where Murray and Diana were honoured: “We experienced and watched the struggles of Dad and Mom establishing a business and trying to make it work and grow. Our father invested his life savings along with a small loan from his father and brother to get the business started.
 Murray Hogarth with sons Geoff and a representative from the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters “We boys had absolutely no clue of the hardships and challenges our parents faced in trying to make their dreams a reality. Being oblivious can sometimes be a wonderful thing! Somehow it all magically seemed to work out- the business took flight and grew bigger.. but as my brothers and I soon would learn from Dad.. you create your own magic with hard work, passion and a commitment to succeed and the rest will take care of itself.”
“As their sons, we couldn’t ask for better role models on how to live and lead a successful life. Back in the 60’s.. Burlington was a relatively small community and somehow while having to support five boys, a new fledgling business, and pay the mortgage my parents still found time to give to the community and support local causes.
“I remember my mother being very involved in the Junior League as well as launching and chairing the first campaign in Burlington for the Heart & Stroke Foundation and actively canvassing many evenings and weekends.”
“Regardless, of the challenges they faced as the years went by they always supported their community and that philosophy infected us. Murray explains that the Masquerade Ball was the occasion he used to pass the torch to his sons. I showed them how it’s done – now I expect them to lead in their own fashion.”
Today, the Burlington Community Foundation manages $7.5 million, with 67 endowed funds from individuals, families, corporations and agencies. It has granted over $1.6 million, and touched over 41 charities and non-profit organizations in the past twelve months. That is success by any measure! And that is how a gift of $100,000 can multiply.
Former Burlington Mayor Rob MacIsaac put it very well when he said that first $100,000 “really sparked a coming of age for philanthropy for our city… and demonstrated a level of leadership that paved the way for many donations since.”
For the Hogarth’s the question they ask about philanthropy is: “Isn’t that why we’re here? The welfare of our community, of others, IS our concern. It is not a burden, but an opportunity.”
‘Why not share is a question worth asking yourself. Business is not just all about making money. Although, critically important, it is not how you create value. Money is the offshoot of value – not the cause of it. That is something both my parents have always believed in.
 Murray Hogarth: Can you see the twinkle in his eye? He did do it his way. They gave through the Hamilton Community Foundation, which Murray eventually chaired. And went on to help establish the Burlington Community Foundation and then the Napanee Community Foundation in Murray’s original home town with his brother Don.
And they set up the Pioneer Energy Foundation and Pioneer Energy Fund in 1999 as projects to mark Canada’s Millennium.
As Murray puts it: “This public / private foundation model is an efficient way for businesses and families to give back in perpetuity to the areas and projects of their community where there is the most need, both now and in the future.”
And that’s the key: “in perpetuity”. It’s the gift that keeps on giving, keeps on benefitting the community. It ensures “sustainability”.
That’s when Murray Hogarth’s quiet smile builds up. He did it his way and it worked. His boys will now carry the torch – expect it to burn as brightly in their hands.
 October 31, 2013
By Ray Rivers
BURLINGTON, ON. This has been a crazy week in Canadian politics. it wouldn’t surprise me if Joe Oliver, Canada’s Natural Resources Minister, who returned from a trade mission to China last week, pulled another free-trade deal out of his hip pocket. This one, to be signed in time for the ‘Year of the Horse‘ (Jan 31, 2014), would allow China unlimited access to the oil sands, including permission to build whatever pipelines they need to move the bitumen. In exchange, China will have to assume responsibility for the management of the Canadian Senate and its senators.
 The Senate, an appointed body that can revise any government bill except a money bill. It was intended to be a chamber that took a longer second look at government legislation. In the past few years it has become a place where appointed men and women abuse rules designed to manage their spending. And who doesn’t sympathize with the PM? How frustrating it must be when you stuff the Senate with handpicked disciples only to find they have turned on you; just like what happened to Julius Caesar on the Ides of March. I know these senators are just having sober second-thoughts about being party to their own expulsions from the Senate but still – what a lack of gratitude. Anyway, it makes for great drama and the PM and his crowd have given the Canadian TV networks a flood of new viewers feeding on the daily revelations of Duffy, Wallin and Brazeau and the ever-creative denials and contradictions by the PM.
“Oh what a tangled web we weave…” Did Harper dismiss Nigel Wright or had he resigned as was the first story? Were Wallin’s expenses in order as the PM originally said or were they false claims as he now maintains? How many people in the PMO knew about the $90,000 cheque to Duffy? My rule of thumb is that if you have to keep changing your story, you weren’t being fully truthful in the first place.
Stephen Harper is a meddler – not the kind to leave well enough alone, which makes him his own worst enemy. And when a meddler is consumed with trying to get things perfect – they rarely turn out that way. Think back to the G-8 meetings in 2010 where despite the government’s infatuation with making Canada look good, spending a tonne of money in the process, the nasty riots and disturbing violations of human rights are the only things we remember.
Harper is well-known to be a micro-manager, which is why nobody believes that he wasn’t involved in the $90,000 cheque to Duffy. More than that he is a control freak going so far as to treat the Senate as an extension of his Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). But try as his loyal subjects, in the Senate, are trying, they will not likely be able to suspend the senators in question until Monday, which means that his appearance at the Conservative convention this weekend will be overshadowed by this issue.
And that means that the PM will come back next week with the Senate debacle still ongoing, and him having to find more answers to questions he wishes would just go away – questions like did you orchestrate that big cheque for Duffy, and why? Or why would the PM compensate Duffy for repayment of wrongfully claimed expenses? The answer may well have to wait until the RCMP complete their investigation, or until Nigel Wright finally has had enough and comes out of the closet, singing like a canary.
 Stephen Harper in Calgary earlier in his career. What a mess, and one that could most likely have been avoided. Some have compared this affair to Watergate, though that is way over-the-top. This little tempest is unlikely to break the tea pot where our PM has been living – he’ll survive. The latest polls show almost no effect among the Tory faithful.
Still this kind of political drama isn’t good for the PM or his party as they pass the midway point in their term in office, and it has given Mulcair an opportunity to finally show his stuff. As for China taking over the Senate, rest assured that is not one of the options the PM put to the Supreme Court. Besides, the Chinese would not be that foolish, even though it is called the Red Chamber.
 Ray Rivers writes weekly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was a candidate for provincial office in Burlington where he ran against Cam Jackson in 1995, the year Mike Harris and the Common Sense Revolution swept the province. He developed the current policy process for the Ontario Liberal Party.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND: Joe Oliver in China Polls
 October 28th, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. It’s that time of year again – Halloween yes – but much more interesting is the Annual Art in Action Studio tour which this year will include 29 artistes in eight locations.
 This Studio Tour event is now in its 11th year. There are some of the old standards and at couple of places that might better be given a rest but this is still very much a superb opportunity to get out and see what the city’s arts community has to offer.
 Premier Arts event for November in the city. Not to be missed. If this event is one that you’ve done in the past there is an opportunity to see the growth in artists you’ve watched and see how they have perhaps grown and changed.
There are two we have been watching and appreciating the changes, the growth and the new directions they are going in. Last year there were a few that weren’t on the tour and we missed them.
The tour lasts two days. You will find yourself bumping into the same people at different locations and striking up friendships and talking about what you saw that you liked.
November 2 and 3.
 A Helen Griffiths piece. This artist continues to both surprise and delight. Art in Action runs the Studio Tour which gives artists exposure which never hurts. The organization also has a scholarship is gives each year. Last year $1,500 went to Michelle Nguyen, a Robert Bateman High School graduate studying landscape architecture at the University of Guelph.
 Fratesi has pieces at the Burlington Art Centre where her work can be rented from the Art Bank Cheryl Goldring and Don Graves handle fundraising for the group which pay for studio tour advertising and scholarships.
New to the Studio Tour this year are: Tamara Kwapich (Studio 5), Lois Shaw (Studio 6) and Donna Fratesi (Studio 1) and Rachel Quinteros (Studio 4)
 October 30, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. It sold out last year and has sold out frequently before that – so if you want to be at the table this year – make your reservation.
The Burlington Art Centre (BAC) fundraiser will celebrate both culinary and ceramic art this year, as restaurants donate soups and salads and potters donate handcrafted soup bowls. There will be celebrity servers and a full-course dinner sitting as well.
 Individually hand crafted bowls done by artisans across the province. Enjoy a special gourmet soup and then take the bowl home. Running from November 14 to 17, this popular BAC tradition will feature all of the favourite Soup Bowl elements – beautiful handcrafted bowls donated by potters from across Ontario ready to be filled with gourmet soups from some of Burlington’s finest restaurants – and some surprises.
“We’ve added to the Soup Bowl fun this year by recruiting celebrities to serve guests,” says Ian Ross, Executive Director at the Burlington Art Centre (BAC). Another new feature is a full-course dinner on November 15 at 6 pm, which will include special entrée selections and a glass of wine, as well as the soup bowl selection, gourmet soups, salads, bread, desserts and coffee/tea which are served up at lunch sittings. A cash bar also is available throughout the event.
Tickets are on sale now: $50 ($40 for BAC members) for lunch sittings; Friday dinner tickets are $75 ($65 for BAC members). The full-course dinner on November 15 at 6 pm, will include special entrée selections and a glass of wine, as well as the soup bowl selection, gourmet soups, salads, bread, desserts and coffee/tea which are served up at lunch sittings. A cash bar also is available throughout the event.
Tables of eight can be reserved. Order tickets online at theBAC.ca/soup, by phone (905-632-7796, ext. 326) or at the BAC, 1333 Lakeshore Road, Burlington.
The Arts Burlington Christmas Sale will take place at the same time. The Sale features a wide variety of handcrafted items produced by the Guilds of Arts Burlington with Christmas in mind. It is open to everyone on November 14 from 11 am to 3 pm; November 15 from 11 am to 9 pm; and November 16 and 17 from 11 am to 4 pm.
The Burlington Art Centre is located at 1333 Lakeshore Road, Burlington, and is an accessible facility with lots of free parking over the course of the event. The 2013 Soup Bowl is sponsored by Utter Morris Insurance Brokers Limited and Wendy and Don Smith, Smith’s Funeral Homes.
 October 29, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. The four Burlington Rotary organizations in Burlington got trashed by local media and people involved in the Santa Clause parade when all they did was advise the parade committee that they were changing their priorities.
Burlington’s four Rotary Clubs have put up $1250 each year for the past ten years to support the annual Santa Claus parade that is organized by a citizen’s committee chaired by Gunther Kaschuba. The parade committee says they were blindsided – the Rotarians didn’t see it that way and will be dealing with the parade people in due course.
Rotary pays full freight for a float of their own in the parade plus putting a cheque for $5000 on the table each year. In the past they have asked for some corporate recognition as Rotary moves forward with plans to enlarge their membership and re-focus their projects.
 The Santa Claus parade has taken place for more than 45 years in Burlington. Organized by a citizens group that works out of the city’s Festivals and Events office it is the premier holiday event in the city. The elves have got a spot of trouble to manage with one of their benefactors this time around. Like any organization, Rotary continually looks at its program and reviews the effectiveness of what they are doing. They apparently came to the conclusion that the Santa Claus parade was no longer part of the way they wanted to interact with the community. Rotary has yet to issue a statement. Because there are four different groups in Burlington – it is not always easy to come up with a single voice but the message to the Santa people was that the end of their participation had arrived.
One might quibble that perhaps more time could have been given but the parade organization, which has never issued a financial statement that we are aware of, has in the past been somewhat high-handed with the way they manage the event.
 Colorful to say the least. For Rotarians right relationships are paramount and, after listening to a number of people, one gets the impression that there was more wrong than right with the way the Santa parade people managed one of their biggest benefactors.
The parade will take place Sunday, December 1st beginning at 2:00 pm at the intersection of Prospect and Guelph Line. Somehow the financial problems will get worked out. Remembering to thank people for their contributions and not to take them for granted is one of the life lessons most of us get at our parents knee.
 October 28, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. The Burlington Waterfront Committee released a statement this morning smacking city council for two of its recent decisions. Committee spokesperson Gary Scobie said:
“For the second time in just over a week, the majority on Burlington City Council supported conflicting actions and embarrassed themselves on a waterfront issue. First Council decided to sell public waterfront land to private interests when Council’s stated goal is to acquire such lands for the public good. Then it confused a 35-year-old vision of a park with the reality of today and allowed a community outside Burlington to determine the fate of destruction for a community inside Burlington.”
 From the left: Bob Wingfield, Gary Scobie, Jeff Martin and Ward 2 Councillor Marianne Meed Ward. All, except for Martin are members of the waterfront Committee. “Our volunteer committee of citizens from each ward continues to support Beachway Park and the beach community co-existing as they have since the park’s inception and the acquisition/retention of actual waterfront property to enhance and promote public access.”
That and $5 will get you as decent latte in this city but not much more. The statement was released exactly one year before voters in Burlington will troop to the polls.
There are now a number of groups that are lining up their resources to take their issues to the public while the city creates an Insight Burlington service to hear what a panel of 5,000 people think.
These groups and the panel should get together somewhere and enjoy one of those $5 lattes – perhaps we won’t need an election.
The Burlington Waterfront Committee gave birth to itself when the city sunset the Waterfront Access Protection and Advisory Committee. It claims to have representation from every ward in the city, which we believe, and holds regular, open to the public meetings. Ward 2 Councilor Marianne Meed Ward was instrumental in getting this committee off the ground and runs it out of her office.
This is however, an independent committee – Meed Ward doesn’t run the show. There are some very strong-minded people on that committee who believe the waterfront matters and work towards ensuring the public will is not lost at the city council table.
There is also a small group of citizens taking a hard second look at the decision council made to sell waterfront property to private interests. Expect them to bring a stiff argument to a table somewhere; either in a courtroom or at a tribunal. They are wondering if there is an Ontario Municipal Board case to be made.
Background:
Creation of waterfront committee
Sale of Water Street road allowance
Regional Beachway Park decision.
 October 28, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. We don’t hear much about the Court cases related to the construction of the pier other than the Mayor saying he hoped to be able to tell the public just how much has been spent on lawyers so far.
There is much, much more to the legal quagmire the city has itself in.
The lawyers are STILL in their Discovery process; they were going through this phase for large parts of the week before last and some now realize that this case is not likely to get to Court in the near future.
No one is prepared to say just how much longer this process will go on. Each of the parties involved in the dispute keeps asking questions of the city and every time that happens more information comes to the surface that results in even more questions
Involved in the litigation are the following corporations: Harm Schilthuis and Sons Limited vs. the Corporation of the City of Burlington
The Corporation of the City of Burlington vs. Zurich Insurance Company Ltd.
The Corporation of the City of Burlington vs. Harm Schilthuis and Sons Ltd., Aecom Canada Ltd., Lombard General Insurance Company of Canada, P.V &V Insurance Centre Ltd. et al (Insurance Claim)
The Corporation of the City of Burlington vs. Aecom Canada Ltd.
Harm Schilthuis and Sons Ltd. vs. Lombard General Insurance Company of Canada, P.V. & V Insurance Centre Ltd., the Corporation of the City of Burlington, Craneway Equipment Ltd. (Insurance Claim)
The week that Tom Eichenbaum was named Engineer of the Year by the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers and the Hamilton/Halton Engineering Week Committee, he also spent much of his time in Discovery being examined on his involvement related to the construction of the pier at the foot of Brant street.
The award recognizes those who “exemplify the character of the engineering profession and have inspired the young, contributed to their communities, excelled as engineers and researchers, fostered achievement in those around them, and mentored the next generation of engineers.”
 Gathered out on the pier before construction was completed, from left to right are: Brad Cassidy, Tom Eichenbaum, Craig Stevens and a Graham Infrastructure employee. Some at city hall questioned the criteria used by the Engineering Society in the selection of members they wish to publicly acclaim. Eichenbaum’s credibility had taken a big hit when the city manager had to apologize publicly for errors Eichenbaum had made around the inclusion of a wind turbine on the pier. The city eventually decided to forget about including a wind turbine.
At some point an exasperated Judge will bring the Discovery process to a halt after which the parties involved have to take part in some form of mediation. Can all this be done and then a trial take place before the next municipal election takes place on October 28, 2014? Many are beginning to doubt that – which will make members of this council happy campers. Were trial testimony to come out during an election all but one member of this Council would be wearing a thick coat of mud on their faces.
Ward two Councillor Marianne Meed Ward has been the only Councillor who has consistently said the city has significant responsibility for errors made and that a settlement has been possible for some time.
It is believed that the office of the city’s solicitor has become concerned about the quality of the city’s case and that there are two members of Council suggesting the city look for a way to settle. The Gazette is not aware of who the second Councillor might be.
We do know that at the end of each Discovery session transcripts are on the desks of all the lawyers involved the following day and pored over in some detail by city legal staff. We are advised that the information in those transcripts has not improved the city’s position.
In the event that the case actually goes to trail all this information will become public.
 The public loves the pier – they just don’t know yet what the full cost is going to be. The total cost will be a whopper. High enough to make political heads roll? The politicians just might manage to run out the clock. Meanwhile the public just loves the pier. Ask people how they feel about the cost and they just shake their heads and wonder what they can do about any of that at this point in time.
Wait until they hear how much the city is going to have to take from taxpayers to settle the judgement that many expect to see Harm Schilthuis and Sons Ltd. awarded.
At some point the city might decide it is time to settle – they have had at least one opportunity to do so. If they do look for a gag order to ensure the public never gets the details.
The public does not yet have any detail on the waterfront land the city has decided to sell to private interests. The law suits surrounding the construction of the pier might get the same “you don’t need to know” treatment.
Background:
City’s Court case.
 October 27, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. It was a SOLD OUT event. No numbers yet on exactly how much was raised but the auctioneer was really busy for a part of the evening.
 Angelo Paletta worked the room of the Burlington Community Foundation Masquerade ball like a politician running for office. It was a fun night where Angelo Paletta, this year’s Patron for the Burlington Community Foundation annual fund-raiser, worked the tables so well one might have thought he was running for office.
 There were there to dine, to dance, to raise additional funds and just have a good time. The setting made all that possible. The Burlington Convention Centre was very nicely decorated with the event where the masquerade theme dominated.
The evening was part social, part fund-raiser and the occasion when Murray and Diane Hogarth the Philanthropists of the year were celebrated and honoured for what they have given back to the community.
 This wasn’t an occasion to take name of identify the “usual suspects” but a time to catch people in an environment they are comfortable in. Deals and conversations are always part of the social mix. The Burlington Community Foundation is an organization that works on several levels for the city. Besides holding a boffo ball – it has a structure that serves the people who want to donate some of the wealth and their talent to the community. The Hogarth’s are the first couple recognized as philanthropists in Burlington and they are the fourth to be so honoured. Predecessors were: Don Smith, Kevin Brady, Doug Leggat and now Diana and Murray Hogarth.
The Foundation collaborates with individuals and corporations to build endowments, give grants and connect community leadership. There are currently more than 55 funds overseen by the Foundation with Donour Designated, Donour Advised, specific fields of interest; scholarship based and unrestricted funds.
Philanthropy is not just people giving money – it is service to the community where talent is as relevant as the size of the cheque that might be written.
Each year the Foundation produces a Vital Signs report setting out where the city is on a number of different socio-economic levels and highlighting areas of specific concern to the community.
 That is a great smile! Mental Health was highlighted as a very serious concern and one that will be given more attention through a Roundtable the Foundation will sponsor in the New Year.
There are other organizations that use the Foundation to distribute funds into the community. The Halton Heros leave the funds they have raised with the Foundation and have the organization deliver the funds when there is a need. The service allows an organization to focus on fund raising and not get bogged down with the investment and management of the funds raised.
 How two women can have a conversation and ignore a Bobby Orr sweater defied understanding – well male understanding anyway.  When it came to bidding for items it was clear this woman knew what she wanted.  Foundation Executive Director Collen Mullholland makes sure the event Patron Angelo Paletta stays on track  Fist full of dollars. One unique auction item was a high end purse stuffed with cask. The winning bidder got the purse and a tax receipt for the cash which went to the Foundation.  He needed just that much more – and the deal might have been done or perhaps it was just that much more for the golf ball to go into the hole. We will never know which.  A ball is a social event – where people spend as much time walking as they dancing and dining. Gives everyone a chance to check out the gowns as well.  You dance with the person who brought you – and dance they did.  Do the masques hid the beauty?   This wouldn’t be a Burlington organization if there wasn’t an invitational golf tournament as well. The Foundation distributes funds to an extensive list of organization including ArtHouse, Bay Area Restoration, Bruce Trail, Burlington Art Centre , Canadian Mental Health Association, Conservation Halton Foundation, Danielle’s Place, Easter Seals, Food for Life, Habitat for Humanity, Halton Food for Thought, Reach Out Centre for Kids ROCK, , Start2Finish and the YMCA.
Later in the week the Foundation will announce what was raised and move on to the next project which in a few short months will be the Roundtable on Mental Health and the impact that is having on our community.
We asked Ashley to cover the Masquerade Ball, seen as the premier social event in Burlington, where the funds raised go to the Burlington Community Foundation.
One table insisted on posing for the camera – something we don’t do much of. We prefer to catch people as they are rather than what they want the camera to see. But this bunch of happy campers had bid on a Bahamas Cruise and invited our photographer to tag along and do an expose on the crowd. This might be a Burlington Ashley Sloggett could get used to
 A night out doesn’t mean the home front doesn’t have to be looked after – this couple work the phones – perhaps to determine just where the kids are. I’ll call this one – you call that one.
 October 27, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. City Hall is getting into electronic public opinion polling. They are going to create a panel of 5,000 citizens who will be asked a series of questions from time to time. Citizens will be able to respond from their cell phone, tablets, lap tops and desk tops. The only media you won’t be able to use is Morse code. This service, expected to roll out before the end of the year is going to be called Insight Burlington.
It’s an approach that is certainly worth looking at – what are the possible downsides to this?
At the public meeting where the plans were passed along to the public 50+ people made it clear they didn’t want this service run by the politicians.
They wanted to know who would decide what the questions should be? How much of the data would the public actually get to see and who would be accountable for what gets done with both the inputs and the outputs. Mark Twain often used a phrase thought to have been coined by former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
That pretty well sums up the public perception of survey information which is something city hall is going to have to deal with.
Are surveys an example of a city council governing by polls? Do surveys become mini-referendums that result in policy? Where does political leadership come into play? If one went by the letters to the editor in a local newspaper when the pier was going through a very difficult patch (mostly the result of terrible project management on the part of the city – but that’s another story) the structure would have been torn down. Go out on the pier at almost any time of day and ask people if they think the project should have been scrapped?
A collection of opinions is a snapshot of where thinking is at a particular moment and depends heavily on a public being fully informed. Hard to call Burlington a fully informed city – the Shape Burlington report that came out just over three years ago identified a significant “information deficit” that no one would claim has been anywhere near resolved.
 Julian Marquis was heavily involved in the development of the Citizen Engagement Charter and registered to be on of the 5,000 people who will be part of the Insight Burlington initiative. When the public gets told that the city did not live up to its usual high standard of communications during the debate on the sale of the Water Street properties one is tempted to ask – and why was that? The question was not asked.
The flow of information and the balance that flow is given is critical. The city spends close to $1 million on communications when you include their advertising, salaries and printing costs. That allows the city to tell its story in the way it chooses to tell the story.
Will City Hall have the same tight grip on this electronic medium? Is there room here for some civilian oversight? Could well be.
About a year ago the city could not handle the flak that was coming out of the very differing opinions on historical homes and the way they were being put on registries with some property owners thinking their homes would be designated as historical and see a diminished value placed on them. The city failed miserably to educate the public but did have the foresight to re-organize the Heritage Advisory Committee and tasked it with cleaning up the mess.
And clean it up they did. That Advisory Committee did such a tremendous job that the members of city council actually gave them a standing ovation and a significant budget to complete the job which is going to include creating a web site that will tell Burlington’s stories and how they relate to historical properties.
It is clear that wisely constituted advisory committee can work.
Because there is some well-founded concern over who is going to determine what questions get asked with the electronic polling panel does it not makes solid sense for there to be some citizen oversight right from the beginning?
The city has an Engagement Charter that is marooned somewhere in city hall where it is now just a document gathering dust. It needs to be brought out and given a little exercise and made live and relevant.
So why not create an Advisory Committee that would be responsible for the intelligent use of the Engagement Charter and for citizen over site of the Insight Burlington operation. You can bet that the council members will look for ways to ask questions in such a way that they get the answers they want to approve the actions they want to take. They do it now during citizen delegations where there is just the one citizen standing before Council. Imagine what they will do when they say there are 5,000 people who see it their way?
We can think of at least one person on Council who would jump at this idea and two of the potential candidates in the municipal election who would see merit in this. They might even make it part of their platform.
 October 26, 2013
By James Burchill
BURLINGTON, ON. Amazon has launched a service called Login and Pay with Amazon which allows partner sites to enable a Pay with Amazon payment button that can process purchases through the Amazon system. This competes directly with PayPal and merchant services and could become a serious competitor for eBay’s payment processing giant. It’s also something that could give Amazon a third income arm to augment the warehousing sales and cloud services it has built its business on.
 Amazon moves into yet another sphere of the online commerce world: payment services. The new Login and Pay with Amazon combines the current Amazon payments services with a new login service similar to Google or Twitter login systems for websites. Together, the combined services offer a one-stop integration for Web payments in a way similar to how PayPal’s payments button works.
This will allow Amazon’s business partners to tap into the 215 million active customer accounts that the company has on tap. According to Tom Taylor, Vice President, Amazon Payments, ‘Login and Pay with Amazon enables companies to make millions of our customers their customers by inviting online shoppers with Amazon credentials to access their account information safely and securely with a single login.’
Until now, Amazon payments services have directed users to Amazon’s website to authorize the purchase – if you’ve invested in Kickstarter projects, you’ve no doubt seen this in action. This new setup works the same way, but doesn’t require the site redirect and can work in a window or directly on the merchant’s site.
On top of the payments option, this new login service also means that websites can accept Amazon credentials as a login, in the same way they use Facebook, Twitter or Google login authentication. This opens up possibilities for a whole cottage industry of services working in and around Amazon’s consumer offerings like streaming video, audio, etc. Since it works through a simple oAuth implementation, developers will have no difficulty adding it to a site. Amazon’s inclusion of their A to Z Guarantee for this authentication service will only bolster consumer confidence.
For those who travel, you’ll see the new Login and Pay with Amazon in action when you use Gogo WiFi in flight on an air flight later this year – the company plans to have it implemented before the big holiday season of flying begins next month.
For its part, PayPal is not sitting on its laurels waiting to be ousted from the market. The company recently acquired BrainTree, a cross-site payments solution, and has unveiled a physical payment option that can be used in brick-and-mortar retail establishments to pay for goods and services. This would allow small businesses to accept payments via PayPal by having their phone or register bill the client or the client can pay and their phone will produce a QR code that the clerk at the register can scan to complete the transaction. A random four-number code can also be produced which can then be entered into the keypad of the credit card reader at the register to complete the sale.
Still, with Amazon now horning in on their core business, PayPal must be worried. Amazon, meanwhile, is poised to take yet another big chunk of the web’s profit potential and add it to their portfolio.
 James Burchill creates communities and helps businesses convert conversations into cash. He’s also an author, speaker, trainer and creator of the Social Fusion Network™ an evolutionary free b2b networking group with chapters across southern Ontario. He blogs at JamesBurchill.com and can be found at the SocialFusionNetwork.com or behind the wheel of his recently acquired SMART car.
 October 26, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. Governing is all about information. Power is also all about information.
How does one get that information? And just what is the information?
Those were questions and concerns that got raised at a meeting last Thursday at the Performing Arts Centre where Burlingtonians got to listen to one of the greatest public polling practitioners this country has ever had. Angus Reid was in town to talk about Insight Burlington
 Surrey, BC resident responding to an online poll. Burlington will be using the same service to learn what 5,000 Burlingtonians think about issues the city faces. Mayor Goldring explained Insight Burlington as the city’s new online public consultation and citizen engagement community. It is an online consultation community where participants will weigh in on important city issues by participating in online surveys and discussions via their smart phones, computers and tablets. Insight Burlington is powered by Vision Critical’s online community platform, connecting busy people with their city via ongoing consultations and engagement, on their time and on their terms. It is expected to launch early next year.
This “engagement community” will be made up of a panel of 5,000 people – perhaps more. If you want to be on the panel use the link at the bottom of the page to add your name to the list – when the panel is being put together you will be advised and given a chance to be part of the process.
Well – just what is that process – how will it work and who controls the process. While Burlingtonians are decent, polite people they ask questions and want to be sure their interests are being put first.
The city wants to engage its citizens and they know that there has to be something better than the current council delegation process. Angus Reid told the audience what they already knew: “We’re increasingly turning to digital and mobile technology, it’s time for public institutions and local governments to engage people where they are spending time: online.
The Mayor gets emails constantly and told of an occasion when he was in bed, reading a book on his e reader when a “tweet” suddenly showed up on the screen. He had forgotten to turn that feature off.
 If 5,000 Burlingtonians had been asked what they wanted the city to do with the Water Street property they recently agreed to sell to private interests – would we have seen a different decision? Is electronic opinion gathering going to make a difference to the way city council decides? We live in a society where everything is “on” all the time. People want information – now. The city would like to know what people think – now, while a decision is being made.
So Burlington is buying into a service that lets the city create a panel of 5,000 people who will get messages asking them what they think about specific issues. People will be able to respond instantly through their cell phone, their tablet, their lap top or their computer at home.
The city will tabulate the results instantly and know what the prevailing views of these 5000 people are on the questions being asked.
Who is going to choose those 5000 people several in the audience wanted to know. They won’t be chosen explained Angus Reid – they will self-select. If you want to be on the panel then you put yourself on the panel. What if some organization has all its members rush to be on the panel and thereby dominate the responses?
The technology built into the system will catch things like this the audience was told. So if there I technology involved then someone does have control?
Gets complex and at some point one has to trust the people running the operation.
 OK – who will be running the operation at city hall? Well it won’t be the council members. The Insight Burlington process will be run out of the office of the city manager. Good – we happen to have a first-rate city manager – but he will retire at some point – if we don’t burn him out before he retires.
The city has an Engagement Charter and some thought this information gathering service could be tied into that. Good idea – one that needs some additional thinking.
Mayor Goldring explained some of the ways the Insight Burlington service would work. People just don’t have the time to get out to meetings where they listen to a presentation and then stand in line to get to a microphone to make a comment. We see this all the time with development applications.
Insight Burlington could be used to put up visuals that show what is proposed as a particular development application. The facts would be laid out and people would get a chance to answer questions.
 The city holds budget review meetings that draw 50 people sometimes – seldom more. Putting questions about the budget on-line and letting a panel of 5,000 people respond would give city hall a much bigger picture. They may not like the response they get – then what do they do? Typically a city meeting might get as many as 10 delegations from the immediate area – city hall would like to wider response and going electronic gives them that opportunity.
This kind of technology is not however without its downside. Who decides what the questions are going to be? City Manger’s office? What if city council wants a question asked and the city manager doesn’t think it’s appropriate? City managers serve at the pleasure of a city council; could get a little sticky down the road.
Burlington has a public affairs department that isn’t exactly stellar. It looks as if they will be kept to putting out press releases ad getting City Talk into your hands.
Angus Reid pointed out, as most people who have anything to say about the public thinks already know: Local is what matters most to people. That might be true but that isn’t reflected in the way people vote at municipal elections. The voter turnout is low – at times abysmally low. In some situations Board of Education trustees are acclaimed. If there is anything that should matter to parents it is how we educate their children.
Burlington is the first city in eastern Canada to climb aboard this service and will be signing a three-year contract that will come in at about $100,000 a year – more if the city takes up some of the analytical service offered.
Data in itself doesn’t provide answers – it is the analyzing of the data and what it really means that is important. On that level what the city learns from the tea leaves is only as good as the people doing the tea leaf reading.
Part of what this process is about is pulling the public into the public square. That public, according the Angus Reid falls into one of four segmentations.
16% of us fall into the “angry activist” segment
23% fall into a “young and ambivalent” segment. This group tends not to like the old way of communicating.
35% of us are defined as retiring skeptics
26% are called happy campers and tend to be families that are busy and happy with the way things are going.
Just over 50 people took in the presentation given by a speaker who did not give short answers. The city has made the decision to use the service and on the surface it looks like a good idea – it will certainly allow more people to have a say in what gets done.
 Julien Marquis enters his name on the list of people who would like to be part of the city’s panel. What wasn’t clear was just how transparent the flow of information is going to be. No one will ever know who responded – all the city will know is that that they live in Burlington and there will be just one response possible from each person. The city will know what percentage of the panel responded and one has to assume they will know which ward and perhaps first three letters of their postal code.
Close to the end of the evening someone asked who would be accountable for what was being done. There was a long pregnant pause, the Mayor didn’t say a word, Angus Reid didn’t say a word. The question sort of hung in the air.
“Citizens”, explained the Mayor, “want the ability to choose how and when they engage and provide feedback to us, More than that, they want to know how their input is being used by the city as we make decisions.” That is what the Mayor expects Insight Burlington to provide.
The City of Burlington is the first Ontario community to join Surrey and Vancouver in British Columbia, where residents are using the technology to have their say through the service.
We will let you know how this works out for Burlington.
Getting you name on the list: CLICK HERE
 October 26, 2013
By Ray Rivers
BURLINGTON, ON. There was time when the only way you could place a bet was to go a horse race. That was before Trudeau liberalized the criminal code, in 1969, bringing us into the modern age and decriminalizing abortion, homosexuality and lotteries all in one fell swoop. Prior to that it was strictly illegal to place a bet on anything.
I recall watching my parents stash away tickets they held for the Irish Hospital Sweepstakes, a complicated lottery based on horse races, illegal pretty well everywhere but Ireland, but which earned its big money overseas.
 Slot machine revenue subsidizes race track operations. Gambling is now very big business. In 2011 Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) turned in $6.7 billion. Another quarter of a billion came from horse racing. Horse racing is mostly located in rural areas and so less accessible to the average urbanite. The forms and betting are complicated, the seasons periodic and the industry heavily regulated. So, it was inevitable that horse racing would get dwarfed by the dollars rolling in from slot machines and the lotteries, especially when they co-located.
But horse racing is more than just gambling, it is part of our culture. If slots and lotteries didn’t exist, it is a safe bet that racing would be far more popular. When slot machines were introduced at race tracks a portion of the money they brought in was used to help finance the racing business. However, when former Premier McGuinty set up the Drummond Commission to help him cut the deficit, the subsidies for horse racing were high on the list of things to eliminate.
Despite the need for subsidies, horse racing is an important agricultural industry which generates significant employment underpinning the existence of many of Ontario’s rural communities. It is estimated that over 30,000 jobs are associated with the horse racing industry which expends over $1.2 billion a year, making this Ontario’s third largest agricultural industry. Ontario claims to have more race events than any other jurisdiction in North America. So when the axe fell and the cuts were announced, horse farmers and the agricultural community mounted a public relations campaign to save their industry.
 The horse racing community mounted a strong protest and the government took a second look – out came a compromise which the racing community calls a partnership. A little over a week ago Ontario Premier Wynne responded to that campaign by bringing forward a plan to restructure Ontario’s horse racing industry to make it more sustainable and economically viable. The settlement is not everything the industry wanted, these things never are, and some people had already exited the industry. Still a subsidy was re-instated and funding was guaranteed for a five-year period, giving stability to the industry.
Gambling is a big revenue earner, which is why even the Bob Rae New Democrats embraced it back when Ontario was suffering its worst recession since the dirty thirties. Annually about $2 billion of the money that comes in goes back out to help fund our health care system and other government priorities. Another $2 billion supports local economic development where Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) facilities are located and about $65 million is spent on gambler education, research and treatment.
One could argue that gambling is a natural process. Every time we get behind the wheel or into an airplane we are gambling with our lives. And what is the stock market or any investment but a gamble by another name. Placing a bet is a voluntary action by individuals supposedly responsible enough to manage their affairs. And if not, there are programs to help the chronic, problem gamblers get their lives straight again.
 There are trotter training operations dotted throughout rural Ontario. Over two-thirds of Ontario residents gamble at least once a year, although that might involve no more than purchasing a lottery ticket. And the poor are believed to gamble more than the wealthy thus leading to the label, gambling is a tax on the poor. Interestingly enough the rise in gambling activity over the years has been associated with the increasing gap between the wealthy and the poor in our North American society. But it would be a huge overstatement to blame gambling for that sad consequence. Clearly erosion of the progressive tax system and the introduction of regressive consumer taxes in Canada have weighed-in heavily on that phenomena.
Horse racing is an ancient sport. Its origins date back to about 4500 BC among the nomadic tribesmen of Central Asia, who first domesticated the horse. Since then, horse racing has flourished as the sport of kings. In the USA horse racing is one of the most widely attended spectator sports; over 50 million people attend racing events and wager billions.
That we came close to losing our horse racing industry here in Ontario is frightening. Hopefully the new plan will allow the industry to focus on attracting more participants to watch the magnificent horses and, if so inclined, to bet on the races. I enjoy doing both, the latter in moderation.
 Ray Rivers writes weekly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was a candidate for provincial office in Burlington where he ran against Cam Jackson in 1995, the year Mike Harris and the Common Sense Revolution swept the province. He developed the current policy process for the Ontario Liberal Party.
Addtional information
Horse racing subsidies
Guaranteed funding for a five-year period.
 October 24, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. You know that culture has some traction in Burlington when city council members ask what a Poetry Slam is and when Councillor Jack Dennison suggests the he might even drop by the Black Bull on Guelph Line and hear how Tomy Bewick, a construction worker delivers his message.
Bewick runs the Burlington Poetry Slam, an event most Councillors knew absolutely nothing about; yet it is an organization that has been given a Canada Council grant to bring together Slam poetry artists from across the country. In Burlington, whoda thunk?
After a close to brutal session at the Regional offices in Oakville where council members took part in a vote that marked the beginning of the end of the Beachway Park community, council met in Burlington to discuss the basics of a Cultural Action Plan and then decide what they wanted to do.
 Teresa Seaton, center, organizer of the Art in Action Tour, thinks through a response at one of the Cultural Action Plan sessions. She is one of 250 people organized as an Arts and Culture Collective in Burlington. They didn’t make any decisions – it was far too late and everyone was far too tired to be able to make sensible decisions, but Burlington did get to see the outline of a community that few really knew existed. The Arts and Culture Collective, a group of more than 250 people organized on-line, didn’t really know each other but they have become a voice and they want a seat at the table where the decisions are made. Nine of their members delegated and laid out their aspirations for a Cultural Action Plan. They have certainly “informed” the plan the city wants t create but there is still some distance between the bureaucrats and the artists.
 The Collective had done their homework – they knew what they wanted – now to actually get it – that’s their challenge. The delegations were listened to, heard and engaged. This is not something that happens for many delegations at our city hall. All too often Council members sit there close to mute as people take their case, their concerns and their hopes the city’s leaders. That wasn’t the case Wednesday night.
Organized as the Arts and Culture collective in July the thing grew from some 20 people who took part in the first meeting to the 250 people who exchange thoughts and ideas on-line and have learned how to deal with city hall and bring about changes.
The process began a couple of years ago when the city hired Jeremy Freiburg to prepare a report on just what Burlington had and didn’t have going for it in terms of culture. Everyone knew about the newly minted Performing Arts Centre and everyone knew about the Burlington Art Centre but few of the many ever went to the place to look and see and feel the art over there.
Freiburger’ s report dug up all kinds of data on where Burlingtonians spent their cultural dollars – far too much of it gets spent outside the city. He mapped where people go and how much they spend. He told us what people wanted in terms of culture.
What he revealed was a city that really didn’t have a solid cultural tradition. We saw a city that chooses to go elsewhere for its culture and entertainment, partly because, they feel, there isn’t anything they like here.
Some thought Freiburger was going to deliver a set of recommendations on what the city should do next – but he chose not to do that. Instead he gave them the data they needed to begin to figure out what they want to do.
And that is when the Collective began to form. The people who met, first wanted to be able to do their art here in this city and not have to go to Hamilton or Toronto – but there was no place, no space, nor any expectation, that there was indeed a local arts community. The city didn’t know they were there and they didn’t know each other.
The group – the Collective – had surfaced and is telling the city that they are here and they want to be involved.
 The artists came from every possible discipline. They met to talk through what the city should include in its Cultural Action Plan – then they had to figure out how to actually control that plan once it’s established. Artists don’t march to the same drummer that the rest of us do – schedules and rules aren’t their strength and it was difficult for the collective to pull together a large number of people.
Because many of the artists were working by themselves they didn’t know many of the people who were doing the same thing. Trevor Copp, who ended up being the leader/spokesperson for the group came up with the idea of holding a Speed Dating event at a local pub. The idea was that people would gather and sit with others for a couple of minutes and then move on to another table and meet someone else. Such is the state of relationship building in this world. It was a good idea, novel and it had the potential to work. But very few people showed up. Copp didn’t miss a step – he chose to see the upside, the bright side and pulled together a meeting that saw less than a dozen people talk about what they wanted in the way of an arts community.
That conversation will get reported on at greater length at another time – what we saw was a group that is thinking this through and while the plan is still in the formative stage city hall now has to work with people who are the arts community – we just didn’t know they were there.
Bureaucrats being bureaucrats they decided to have Copp become part of the Steering Committee that was to fashion a plan out of the data the Freiburger report provided and once a plan is in place, put together a schedule and time frames to implement it.
One of the major beefs the artists had, was that there were no artists on the steering committee. The addition of Trevor Copp and Rosanna Dewey to the Steering Committee that had people who administer funds but didn’t “do” art was a significant step. The challenge now is to ensure that Copp and Dewey don’t get co-opted and turned into bureaucrats. Power can be very seductive.
Dewy is an artist in her own right and part of the Burlington Fine Arts Association, which has a temperament quite a bit different from that of many of the members of the “collective”.
That there is a change taking place in the cultural temperature of the city is evident. Freiburger maintains that the change began with the unveiling of the Spiral Stella outside the Performing Arts Centre – debatable. One of the occasions that signaled the change was the “No Vacancy” event that took place at the Waterfront Hotel.
This was “avante garde” for Burlington and while the event lasted less than four hours and experienced a small loss it brought out people who hunger for depth and maturity in their cultural menu – the No Vacancy – which will take place again next year, showed that it can happen in Burlington and is happening in Burlington.
 Performing Arts Centre Brian McCurdy makes a point with the Mayor. He is making points all over the city as he brings about a different working relationship with the Centre and the city. City Hall and the Tourist people see the arts as something that could perhaps attract people to the city. The Executive Director of the Performing Arts Centre has been in town long enough to have figured out what we have and don’t have and has already shown that his institution is able to be flexible with the performance community.
All good signs – but like a great recipe, there is something to the way you flick the rest to get that meal on the table and make an occasion to be remembered.
Council will meet early in November to get down to the nitty-gritty of spending money – and at the rate this council is spending the artists had better move quickly or there won’t be any left.
With a little luck the artists will be at the table helping people whose experience is in parks and recreation learn how to move beyond swimming schedules and volleyball games to events that stir the soul. Mind you, watching Maurice “The Rocket” Richard put another one past a Toronto goal tender is certainly something to stir the soul.
 October 25, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. There is an ancient custom of ringing the Death Knell as soon as notice of the death of a parishioner reaches the clerk of the church. The Death Knell for the Beachway Park community was rung yesterday afternoon in Oakville at the Regional Council offices.
The beginning of the long end for the Beachway Park community began at a Regional Council meeting Wednesday afternoon.
 They fought hard and there wasn’t any plan to expropriate their homes the Regional government now has a plan to acquire the homes over a period of time and demolish them down to make way for a park. After hours of tortuous motions with amendments and amendments to the amendment the Regional Council votes but it all came down to a vote that did a number of things – none of which are good for the 30 people who live in the Beachway Park.
Regional Council voted to reconfirm the vision of the Burlington Beach Regional Waterfront Park (BBRWP) as a public park in its entirety. That means those 30 homes will eventually get bought by the Region and torn down which broke the hearts of many of the people who have made the place their home.
 The last of the cottages on the water side of the old railway line in the Beachway Park being torn down in 2004. The same may well be the fate of the 30 homes left in the community. The notion that “did the deed” had a sop to the residents – they are going to create a committee that will develop an acquisition/implementation strategy for the remaining privately held properties.
Put crudely – the will work out a way to get these people out of their homes. They won`t be put out of their homes – there will be no expropriation – but there will be a strategy that will offer incentives, long term lease arrangements, alternate property evaluation methodologies and funding commitments.
Burlington and the Conservation Authority will now begin updating the Master Plan for the park.
What the Master Plan will look like; what the acquisition/implementation plan will look like won`t be known until April of 2015.
The residents of the Beachway Park have one thing going for them. If they hang together as a community they can remain there for as long as they wish. If they don`t hang together as a community they will hang individually and that will be the end of a community that has been part of Burlington for more than 100 years.
It is a long, sad story that will get told in more detail at another time. For now the shock of realizing this could be the end, the very end for that community has to set in fully.
 October 21, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. Susan Ford, an Aldershot resident, passed us a note at the end of the City Council meeting last Monday evening (the 15th) asking “why has communication been so poor on this issue if “discussion” has been going on for a year or more? That park belongs to all of us.”
“What a mess” she added. Park area vandalism is not such a big deal. If they are so worried – then heck lets rid of all the parks.”
Brian Coleman wrote and asked why the city wasn’t listing the property so that others who might be interested could buy it. Coleman is of the view that a group of citizens might choose to join forces, raise the money and buy the property and then give it to the city and get a tax receipt.
Peter Menet pointed out that it is likely Councillors will find themselves in contravention of title restrictions, imposed by earlier deeds, should they approve the motion to proceed with the selling of these city lots. Also, there is a strong possibility that these title restrictions exist in perpetuity.
 The owners of the properties between Market and St. Paul Streets are the people who want to purchase the waterfront land that is owned by the city and the province. For this reason, he said it would be prudent of council to review all previous deeds related to these lots. He added that Councillors have not received any information on these city lots that is prior to 1990.
These city lots are shown in the Halton Atlas of 1877 as part of the sub-division of a larger lot, and hence these lots are parts of earlier deeds that more than likely have title restrictions, he said.
He pointed out that title restrictions that exist on the deeds of the nearby lots on Stratheden Drive and Strathallen Avenue. In the late 1940’s the owners of the land that became Stratheden Drive and Strathallen Avenue sub-divided land into smaller building lots, which were sold singularly to individual builders. I know that there are title restrictions on at least two of these lots and I believe that there are similar restrictions on all the lots on Stratheden Drive and Strathallen Avenue.
“Title restrictions exist and it is my understanding that all subsequent owners of the property are bound to them”, said Menet..
Brian Coleman thought a public auction of the land (like closing a road allowance?) so that the city gets the maximum price for the land if it is sold. Also to force all three land owners all to purchase (if only one does the parkette concept is ruined or seriously curtailed) if it comes to that. And the purchase of the MNR land has to be tied into the sale so that the city doesn’t acquire it if it doesn’t sell unless the parkette goes ahead.
Emily Skleryk, a ward 2 resident and an OPP sergeant who unfortunately did not identify herself as such commented that she was not comfortable walking on public land that is unmarked.
Brain Rose, a Beaver Street resident said he saw the whole process as sneaky on the part of the property owners who were demanding the city sell them the land or there would be a court action. He added that he could not find an instance of lakefront property being sold to a private person in the past. He added the refrain that many used – they didn’t know the land was owned by the city.
 James Ziegler proposed a pathway through the properties. Council voted to make it private land. Dean Dunbavin, a First Street resident said the property was one of the best kept secrets in the city and that he was “flabbergasted that you would make these decisions against everything you have in the way of public policy in place.. “Your decision” he added “defies logic.”
 Paul Dunnett who lives on St. Paul had no idea the land belonged to the city. He has been walking his dog out there for 14 years and said the “walkway was a great asset”. “When it’s gone” he said –“ it’s gone.”
Dunnett said he thought the whole future of Burlington was to have waterfront.
Janice Connor, one of the property owners in a house that was built in 1938. Valued in 2012 at $1,927,000 with 100 feet of frontage on Lakeshore Road and an effective depth of 264 feet – before the addition of any of the provincially and city owned land, went after Councillor Meed Ward for not being as forthright as she should have been with the facts and then added that 90% of the people in Burlington don’t go to the waterfront and that “not everyone loves the waterfront”.
 Connell closed her remarks with the comment that she didn’t think keeping the property would benefit the city.
Yikes – there are two statements she will come to regret having put out there.
There can never be a conversation about getting to places in Burlington without a mention of parking – there is none on either Market or St. Paul Street. All those in favour of creating a park agreed that this was to be a small, local walking park that would appeal to the approximately 5,000 people in the immediate vicinity. The land mass is about a third of an acre – it is the view it offers that is precious.
The people at 2414 Lakeshore; 220 St. Paul; 222 St. Paul and 235 Market fully understand this. They know that trees will be put up that will limit their view if a park is created on that land – and that isn’t something they ever want to live with.
There were 16 delegations (11 against selling – 4 prepared to see the land sold ) at the Council meeting– each got a polite hearing but that for the most part is all they got. Few were engaged by council members – there was precious little dialogue. Odd too that Councillor Marianne Meed Ward, whose ward boundary included the property that was being talked about, made very few comments.
She seemed resigned to seeing the opportunity lost and other than correcting Janice Connell over a technical point we didn’t here all that much from Meed Ward, during the delegations
Most of the questions were asked by Councillor Dennis whose ward is immediately to the east.
Some interesting and valid new information was put forward. The number of homes that were within a 1000 metre radios of the land that is to be sold was far more than what Janice Connell suggested at her Standing Committee delegation.
Russ Campbell one of the better Tory thinkers in town said on his Facebook page that : “There is precious little public access to the lake as it is without limiting it even further by selling land the city already owns. Yes, a complicated issue, but one that could have been settled in favour of the residents and not private interests.”
 We heard the word “scandal” used more than once. I don’t see a scandal but I do see a bunch of people elected to represent the interests of the residents not doing their job of informing the public and getting solid feedback. For a senior staff member to admit that the “city did not live up to its usually high standard of public communication” was both a bit of a stretch and embarrassing.
Mike Swartz, one of the property owners, was seen leaving city hall a few days before the Council meeting. One observer who was in the building at the time remarked on the “fix is in” look he wore as he left the building.
Are Council members prepared to say when they met with Mike Swartz between the Standing Committee and the Council meeting and if they also met with the residents who were opposed to the sale of the land?
Don’t wait for the answer to that question.
What’s the rush with all this? A report goes to a Standing Committee on the 2nd of the month and then to council on the 15th and the deal is done? And there doesn’t appear to be any Ontario Municipal relief available to citizens who think this one doesn’t pass the smell test. Others think it stinks.
The Windows on the Lake, that should have been opened up much, much more to the public years ago, are finally going to be put in place. But that is small potatoes – a jewel from the crown that is Burlington is being pried out and sold under what has to be described as clouded circumstances. No wonder Rob Narejko says “this doesn`t pass the smell test”.
What is perplexing is – Why? There was no good reason for this land to be sold. And while some thought the sale would put major dollars into the city’s coffers, a closer look at this deal suggests otherwise.
Look carefully at the map set out below. The land being sold is made up of two parts: land currently owned by the provincial Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), which is closest to the water and land owned by the city.
 This graphic sets out the issue. The two pieces of land at each end are owned by the city and will be turned into Windows on the Lake. The piece in the centre is owned by the city and the province. The three property owners want to purchase that centre piece and make it private property. Other people want to see a pathway through the property running from Lakeshore, down Market Street along the waterfront and up St. Paul back to Lakeshore. City council voted t sell the land in the center. The MNR has said it will do whatever the city decides to do BUT the MNR is not going to just give the land to the city. When the land is sold the MNR will surely want their share of the proceeds. Look at that map again – much of it is MNR land. What Burlington is doing to do is buy the MNR land, assemble it with the land it already owns and then sell the assembled land to the property owners that abut the lands.
That’s a lot of legal work being done to satisfy the desires of three property owners. What is the city getting for all the work it is doing? We don’t know – hopefully staff will report to the city before any deal is actually done.
This is really a cock-up of major significance and one would think that it can be prevented. Is a recorded city council vote of 6-1 against a motion the very end of the world? There are people who believe this is an issue that can be taken to the Ontario Municipal Board and have begun to organize their data.
There are a bunch of people on city Council that think the public is going to forget the decision to sell a small patch of prime waterfront property. And they might – publics tend to be that way.
But there just might be a legal initiative on the part of some people who feel this was just a plain wrong decision. It gets a little embarrassing when the Mayor of Oakville – the municipality next door – tweets “Hard to imagine this in Oakville!” Mayors usually stay out of one another’s business but this one as apparently just too good for Oakville Mayor Rob Burton to pass up on.
 Former Burlington Mayor Walter Mulkewich pointed out to possible ward 4 candidate in the next municipal election Brian Heagle that: “… the City sold its soul. Bad decision. Forget the language of park and parkette -think trail and waterfront public access. This is selling out future generations and an opportunity to maximize public access to our waterfront which the goal of the City’s Strategic Plan and Official Plan, Council approved policy – and which Council blatantly disregarded. This decision was not a compromise – it was a sellout. The City Council voted for the private interests of three property owners rather than the broader public without getting anything substantial back in terms of waterfront access. Within the legal complications there could be a way to be sensitive to those property owners and still maintain a unique public access. They did not try. The City should improve Port Nelson window on the lake when they have funds available and not tie improvement of Port Nelson by selling your birthright and that of your children.”
Other than a few people who didn’t fully understand the issue there was really no one speaking for the decision council made. Well there was one: Byron Kaczmarek, who lives east of Nelson Park and therefore not directly affected by the sale of lands, once caught a couple of kids making out in his back yard – that would be upsetting – but is it reason enough to sell the land? Talk about throwing the baby out with the bath water.
There are all kinds of issues surrounding this mess that have been left unexplained. There is the legal history the city doesn`t want to make public. Other than tribunals that concern matters of public security and terrorists, judicial decisions in this country are a matter of public record. Anyone who wants to read a decision can get on up to a Court house and obtain a copy.
The Gazette doesn`t have the resources to take on this task – but the city certainly has and in the past has made copies of decisions available. The Air Park case is an example. So why not with the land complexities on the old Water Street property?
And what about the property on the east side where there are several properties that run from the lake up towards Lakeshore. Which ones have property rights? The most southerly property apparently encroaches on city land but no one seems overly concerned about that problem. Councillor Craven, who can get himself worked up into a lather when mention is made of encroachments in Beachway Park, didn’t utter a word about Water Street area encroachments. He did sit through the Council meeting with a grin that would have put the Cheshire Cat of Alice in Wonderland fame to shame. Other than telling the public that “making unclear muddled decisions gets us in trouble” and that we “cannot ignore the reality of the legal history”, which may be true but the public will never know because they have not been told.
Councillor Taylor, Ward 3, made an interesting observation when he said he got 48 emails from people but just one of the emails was from people in his ward. Taylor felt the area had too many parks already and the city should get what it could out of a possible sale.
He, along with Dennison, commented on the massive infrastructure deficit the city is facing. Sell what you can to get as much as you can seemed to be his viewpoint. All to catch up on an infrastructure deficit that was created in the last 20 years while they were serving as a Council member.
Particularly disappointing was the willingness with which Taylor would sell city owned waterfront land while he asks everyone to fight with him to save every square inch of the Escarpment. Councillor Taylor seems to feel he can have it both ways – a position that may well come back to haunt him should a candidate emerge to take him on in the 2014 election. It was a disappointing decision on the part of Councillor Taylor.
Councillor Paul Sharman explained that in ward 5 there were people who had homes adjacent to park land and life for them was terrible. The noise, the vandalism and the litter seemed to have changed the life style for many people. Sharman seemed to want to apply the same set of circumstances to the Water Street properties.
Is Burlington a city where we let our young people take over once the sun sets? Do we not have a police force that is costing us an arm and a leg to operate, that can bring some order to our public property? If we can’t manage these smaller parks whatever are we going to do if the Region strips all the homes out of the Beachway Park?
Far too many Council members seem prepared to just give up on keeping some form of public order in the parks. The role of municipal government is to maintain public order.
Sharman, along with most of the other council members referred to the messy legal history and explained that it was far more complex than the public realized – but, like the rest of Council, he was unprepared to let the public in on that complexity.
Meed Ward does say, without breaking the confidentiality of the Closed Council session, that she feels the legal issues can be worked out.
The Mayor took the position that keeping the land for future use wasn’t necessary because, should the three properties be redeveloped the owners would have to deed to the city a 15 metre set back from the edge of the water which would put that land back into the hands of the city. Neat bit of legal sophistry there –that assumes the 15 metre set back rule will still be in place at some future date. The Mayor saw this as a logical issue and not an ideological one.
This Mayor is certainly not married to the concept of getting as much waterfront land as possible into public hands and keeping it there. We’ve known for some time that the Mayor has gone looking for help in coming up with a vision for the city. We know now just how much help he needs.
For the Mayor it was ideology vs. logic. Public access where it is practical and feasible and the Mayor saw keeping the land as neither practical nor feasible.
 It’s all about the view. The choice was making it a public view or a private view. Money and the fear of a law suite won out – the view ill be private. Why sell the land – just hang on to it or lease it – and where did that $1 a year price comes from? Have you seen those views?
Lancaster seemed torn between leasing the property and selling it. Her comments suggest she would have preferred a lease. She commented that “option # 1 assumes we have a need for these parks and then made mention of the options to preserve the land for future use.”
Lancaster said she was “not of the opinion that we require this parkland currently” (and on that Miss Canada is correct) and then she added that “would we require it in the future” and here she was asking the question that was paramount. The answer is we do not know – but we do have policies that talk about preserving every scrap of waterfront land we can.
This is a Council that worked hard to create a Strategic Plan and works just as hard to consistently fail to adhere to the Strategic Plan they created.
What was interesting and a little disturbing was that Meed Ward chose not to lead much of the discussion at the Council level when delegations were being made. Once her motion to keep the land was defeated and Council went into Closed Session she didn’t say much. Jack Dennison led the debate and was determined to create Windows on the Lake – minimalist at that – and sell the land to the people who wanted to buy it.
Before the vote on her motion however Meed Ward had plenty to say but as she said later – the decision had already been made. She asked her fellow council members if they wanted more waterfront property for their citizens – and all the policies in place say you do – then just hang onto the property.
While Meed Ward was speaking Councillor Sharman, tried to cut Meed Ward off – we call that pulling a Goldring – but she fought back and claimed her 15 minutes. It is both embarrassing and a bit shameful to watch the way Councillors Craven and Sharman treat Meed Ward. The Mayor was the first one to cut her off when she was speaking – but he did change his behaviour and asked the rest of Council to respect the approach different Council members brought to their jobs.
Meed Ward claimed Council was not serving the residents if they let the land go. She added that the silly argument over the $7500 it would cost to take care of the land if it were in city hands was something she could fund from her Councillors budget.
The additional silly part of all this is that any parkette was not going to be developed for at least five years. It didn’t matter – Meed Ward asked for a recorded vote and was the only one to vote for keeping the land.
 The public will get an upgraded Nelson Park and a couple of Windows on the Lake. The great view – private. Councillor Dennison moved a motion to sell the land and that passed. In six months or less we will hear how well the property managers for the city have done with the negotiations to sell the land. If the Freeman Station deal to rent a piece of land is any example – this matter will not be over in six months – more like right smack in the middle of the election in 2014. Heck the deal just might fall apart.
Janice Connell whispered a touching “thank you” to Jack Dennison that looked a little like a kiss being blown across the room. Jack Dennison now has new friends in Ward 2, unfortunately they don’t get to vote in Ward 4 where Dennison needs all the help he can get.
The citizens who lost the debate gathered in the foyer while Council members approached the property owners to congratulate them.
Poor form people, very poor form.
 October 21, 2013
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. Burlington has a signage policy and a design standard that is applied to all the signs that get put up throughout the city directing people to different places.
 The city has modern looking, informative signage throughout the city. The design is neat, modern looking and conveys the information more than adequately.
Where those signs get put up and where they don’t get put up is something that has confused many people.
 No city signage on this piece of city owned property. Plans are in place to make a proper Window on the Lake at this location. The two road allowances, one on Market Street and one on St. Paul south of Lakeshore Road have been in place for more than 50 years but there has never been a sign indicating that the property is public.
On the contrary people have gotten away with putting up boulders and driveways on what is city land without city hall doing anything.
 There is excellent signage on Northshore Blvd where there is a Window on the Lake. The city has known about the road allowances for years. The former Waterfront Access Protection Advisory Committee (WAPAC) was the group that in recent times took action to get something done about the way public property was almost being denied to the public – most people who walked in the area did not know the land was owned by the city.
It almost appears as if the city actually wanted it that way.
 Good signage at Sioux Lookout on LAkeshore Road – a short distance from the Market Street and St. Paul Street road allowances that should have been marked as public property. While the sale of the city owned land behind the three homes that front onto the lake is not yet a done deal, the Windows on the Lake are a done deal and the public can expect to see signage and benches in place. Councillor Dennison wanted the benches to be minimalist – like one bench – let’s not encourage people to actually use the space.
The deliberate decision to do nothing to make those road allowances open to the public should shame all members of Council. The Mayor, Councillor Meed Ward and Councillor Craven sat on WAPAC and they were certainly aware of the issue.
It was the hard work of Les Armstrong and his colleagues that got the hard data in place and a document with recommendations in front of city hall. It took more than a year for the WAPAC recommendation to turn into a Staff Report that Council debated last week – but at least a wrong has been righted
The sale of the city owned land has been a very recent issue – one that sort of snuck up on the public. Was it planned that way? If the residents who are looking for a way to get this issue before a tribunal for a fairer loo succeed the citizens of Burlington might win on all levels.
 When the city wants you to go somewhere they put up excellent signage. When there is no signage – could that be because the city doesn’t want you on the property – or could it be because the adjacent property owners don’t want you there? The upside of this mess is that the Windows on the Lake can be created any time now. They don’t have to wait until the land sale gets settled.
Might we see those two Windows on the Lake in place for the spring of 2014?
 THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED.
October 19, 2013
By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. Halton Regional police got a call a t 9:45am, reporting a vehicle floating upside down in the waters of Lake Ontario near Lakeshore Rd and Walkers Line in the City of Burlington.
 The point at which a vehicle went into Lake Ontario. Bottom of Walkers Line. Police and emergency services retrieved the vehicle from the water. At this time, the vehicle is believed to contain a single occupant.
Police have confirmed a deceased male adult was retrieved from this vehicle. The name is being withheld at the request of the family.
 Longer view of Walkers Line south of Lakeshore Road. Vehicle retrieved with the body of an adult male whose identity is not going to be released to the public. At this time no foul play is suspected, however the investigation is ongoing.
UPDATE:
Police found the car 40 metres from shore. Burlington Firefighters entered the water and retrieved the body of the lone driver, a 21 year old Burlington man and brought him to shore, where he was pronounced dead.
Preliminary indications are that this single vehicle collision occurred around 2:00 a.m. It appears that the vehicle, a 2007 Volkswagen, was southbound on Walker’s Line, south of Lakeshore, when it mounted the curb at the dead end, traveled through a small parkette, through a chain link fence and plunged to the lake below.
Walker’s Line was closed south of Lakeshore for 8 hours while the CRU conducted the at-scene investigation. No other occupants were in the vehicle other than the driver.
Due to the impenetrable terrain from shore, conventional methods of recovering the vehicle are prohibitive. Police are working with the insurance company on alternate recovery methods which may include the use of a crane-barge. The car is currently still in the water but has been marked and buoyed by the marine unit. Recovery could take another day or two.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Paul Davies of the Halton Police Collision Reconstruction Unit. He can be reached at 905-825-4747 ext. 5245.
 October 18, 2013
By Dr. Jeremy Hayden.
BURLINGTON, ON In light of the looming cold and flu season, I am interjecting with a brief mention of a promising, true and tested approach to improve one’s health (and I’m talking about thousands of years here folks, not a time frame to take lightly). Granted traveling south for the winter may be the most attractive option, running from those pesky winter viruses and bugs won’t ultimately fix what may already be broken. We all should know that a whole person approach to a healthier more robust system should be first and foremost, yet it’s often quite evident that what we know is best for one self, due to lack of time, motivation, commitment and effort, is, for some, sometimes a lot easier said than done…
Reference to fighting a cold or flu is often a primary focus for many. The immune compromising winter season is one which too often places unnecessary and undue stress on our bodies. One may argue that getting sick or catching colds build the immune system and is beneficial, which to an extent may be true. However wouldn’t you prefer to reap the same benefits by doing so without ever needing to get sick? Within the Naturopathic Medical (and Natural living) realm, the realization of this can be achieved, and often with simple ease; strengthening our innate and adaptive immunity whist keeping happy and healthy throu gh it all. Why position ourselves to have to fight these bugs, when we can utilize and take advantage of their unwanted effects to better our overall health?
Herbal medicine is a practice that will help achieve this common goal
Herbalism is utilized to incorporate the vaccination stimulating effects of cold and flu viruses in order to ramp the immune system while simultaneously building immunity to those pesky cold and flu season bugs. Think of it similar (relative perspective here) to getting a vaccination shot; the bug or virus enters the body, provides a stimulus to our immune system, enough to create a resistance to its current and future presence, yet without the effects of making us sick. Enter the herbal medicine perspective; Cold and flu bugs are inhaled and enter the body day-to-day from those around us who may be infected by a cold or are sick. Specific herbs taken prophylactically allow the body’s immune defenses to become stimulated and build immunity to various cold and flu strains, yet due to the stimulation and balancing effects of concentrated herbals, the immune system is strong enough not to allow these ‘bugs’ to take over and make us sick.
 Herbal medicines are not injected – they are swallowed. Basic facts about herbal medicine for a better immune
Most immune herbals are safe when used as outlined on the bottle.
Little to no contraindications exist when using these herbs (contact a licensed natural health care practitioner if and when in doubt or if complicated health issues may exist)
· Herbal tinctures (liquid herbal form) are often the best option for many people as they concentrate the active constituents of a herb and allow for better therapeutic effect.
· Immune herbals often have long-lasting therapeutic immune effect.
· Liquid herbals are considered food type medicine; they are in whole form, grow naturally, and are unadulterated, but concentrated naturally, so our bodies recognize and utilize them best
· Herbals work well as individual (single herb) extracts, however will work to a greater synergistic effect when combined together
· Look for Canadian companies that represent true certified organic, pure herbal tinctures (all are not created equal!)
Top immune prophylactic herbals are:
Astragalus root, Siberian ginseng,codonopsis, schisandra, reishi and licorice root.
Look for herbal liquid tinctures that contain some or all of the above immune herbals. Effective herbals exist for acute immune compromise as well (existing cold), so don’t hesitate to use an Andrographis, Baptisia, Echinacea, Thuja herbal combination to ‘beat the current bug’ (discontinue other immune herbals until the acute virus has been eradicated). A minimum of three-month prophylactic treatment is always best, however supporting your immune system at any point will help your body remain healthy, build immunity and prevent that nasty cold or flu.
Finding a supplier that is reliable is not always easy in a market that is not that tightly regulated. People in the naturopathic field are always very comfortable recommending products from St Francis Herb Farm
What is a naturopathic doctor? Where an MD focuses more time on pharmaceutical medicine, NDs also study pharmacology and its drugs, however extensive training in natural medicine (such as botanical, Oriental, nutritional, physical, and homeopathic medicine as well as lifestyle, counseling and herb-drug interactions) is adjunctively studied as well. In Ontario, a naturopathic doctors is considered a primary care physicians. NDs cannot prescribe pharmaceutical medications in Ontario as MDs are able to, and are only covered under extended health plans and not OHIP billing, however they are able to employ conventional laboratory testing and diagnostic imaging as necessary.
 Jeremy Hayden, Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine (ND). ND is a professional medical designation earned following an undergraduate pre-medical degree and four years of post-graduate medical training at a fully accredited (CNME) naturopathic medical college. All licensed Naturopathic Doctors practicing in Ontario have been fully regulated under the Drugless Practitioners Act.
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