 By Pepper Parr
February 11th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Part 3 of a four part series
What is the Burlington Lands Partnership?
The Burlington Lands Partnership (“BLP”) is a flexible, multi-dimensional and integrated approach that seeks to address multiple areas of municipal strategic land management including acquisition and development.
For the City, the BLP will initially focus on achieving tangible and measurable community benefits and returns in three areas: supporting economic growth and direct job creation, completing “city building” projects and delivering much needed affordable housing.
Oversight and strategic direction will be provided by a new steering committee that is ultimately accountable to Burlington City Council. The committee is proposed to consist of the Mayor, the City Manager, the Council member serving as current Chair of the Community Planning, Regulation and Mobility Committee, key senior municipal staff, and representation from Burlington Economic Development (both the Board and staff).
Additional partner-based stakeholders such as community leaders, the heads of community organizations, and representatives of private corporations are proposed be part of smaller project specific task forces that are accountable and report out to the BLP Steering Committee.
The Steering Committee, which is the group that will look for partnership opportunities they can research, determine the risk and decide if there is enough in the way of benefits to the city to proceed. If they come to consensus, they take their decision/recommendation to city Council where the decision to proceed will be made.
There doesn’t appear to be much in the way of public participation or opportunities for people to delegate. The Steering Committee meetings will not be public.
Why is the Burlington Lands Partnership Needed?
• There are several strategically positioned and emerging municipal land development opportunities within Burlington, but there is no single entity that has the mandate and resources to realize the opportunities for the long-term benefit of the City.
• There is widespread support for the City to take a greater strategic role in targeting municipal land development in Burlington.
• Burlington has many active community organizations and not-for-profits which could engage in mutually beneficial partnerships to aid in developing communities within Burlington.
• A partnership in this form allows for the City, Burlington Economic Development (Burlington EcDev), and a coalition of public and private sector partners to pursue additional funding and strategic partnerships including but not limited to the Halton Region, Province of Ontario and Government of Canada.
The widespread support is not something that Gazette has heard of or become aware of and this council does not have a mandate to undertake something as large as what is being proposed..
Mandate of BLP
Throughout 2020, urbanMetrics was engaged by the City of Burlington to assess the viability, function and structure of a municipal corporation or other strategic land entity to facilitate the development of City owned lands with a focus on economic development and city building initiatives.
 There was once a house on the corner of this property that was owned by the city. It was torn down to increase parking in the Caroline – John Street intersection. Little thought was given to creating a parking lot with a permeable surface to aid in rain water run off. City bureaucrats seldom have their ear to the ground and are rarely aware of what the public wants. The study was undertaken in conjunction with a governance study conducted by MDB Insight to examine the role of the Burlington Economic Development Corporation. The recommended approach to a strategic land development entity, which was subsequently brought forward and recommended by the City Manager as the Burlington Land Partnership (BLP).
• The internal strategic real estate structure would involve Burlington EcDev, as well as other, potential partners, such as Halton Region, other public agencies, private industry and private and public institutions including not-for-profit community groups, as required.
• Oversite and strategic direction would be provided by a steering committee that would ultimately be accountable to Council. The City Manager, as staff lead, would be responsible for strategic managerial leadership and would serve as chair of the steering committee. Outside consulting expertise would be engaged as needed.
The mandate of the organization or partnership would be on leveraging real estate to:
o Maximise opportunities for economic growth and job creation;
o Develop and implement city building projects; and
o Create opportunities for the development of affordable housing.
Ultimately the BLP should have access to City staff and other resources to seek, identify and develop strategic land opportunities into viable projects; to direct the acquisition and disposition of related City lands; to undertake land and facility development visioning and design; to obtain necessary planning approvals; and to fully engage with outside partners.
• Initially, the BLP should be tasked with seeking, identifying and developing opportunities into viable strategic land projects. A number of opportunities have been presented through the urbanMetrics and Cresa studies. These, as well as others that may be identified in the future, need to be more formally prioritized and envisioned complete with detailed project plans, recommended by the BLP Steering Committee and approved by City Council.
• The BLP would be the first step towards the creation of a municipal development corporation, however this would not occur until 2023 (at the earliest) following a reporting to Council on the activities and accomplishments of the BLP in 2021/22.
• Establishing the BLP as a first step, achieves a good balance among the opportunities, the desire for augmented internal strategic land capabilities, the current resource capacity limitations and the need for due diligence and caution.
The longer term goal is to have the city getting into the the development business. Is there a supportable collection of data that identifies the public buy in on an idea of this magnitude? The is not a small potatoes idea.
After an initial start-up period of two years, the organization should be evaluated on an annual basis, with respect to achieving measurable results related to:
o Supporting job creation, business creation and economic expansion;
o Developing and implementation of community-wide “City building” projects;
o Realizing tangible affordable housing opportunities and increased housing supply;
o Fiscal impact (increased assessment base/taxes, development charges, other fees);
o Enhancing the profile of the City and contributing to the public identity of Best City to Live in Canada;
o Supporting the City’s 25-year Strategic Plan, Council’s Vision to Focus 4-year work plan and community planning and other land related policies; and
o Delivering value for money and cost effectiveness to Burlington taxpayers.
 The city basically built the Pier twice. Seeing a set of benchmarks that would be used would certainly help the public decide if the idea has merit and serves the public and not the career aspirations of the bureaucratic cohort at city hall.
Remember the Pier.
BLP Working Groups
To be determined by the Steering Committee with approval by Council on a project- by-project basis as part of a separate project brief/plan.
Duration and Transition
The Burlington Land Partnership will function during an initial “pilot period” of two years including 2021 and 2022. A report on the strategic activities and outcomes of the BLP will be presented to Council prior to the end of their 2018-2022 terms and will include recommendations for consideration for the 2023-2026 term of Council.
The BLP represents a transitional approach that allows for the expansion of organizational capacity and a build-up of expertise that will in turn enable further consideration by Council of a formalized municipal development corporation (MDC) in line with other municipalities in Ontario and utilizing the powers allowed under the Municipal Act related to municipal corporations.
Overall, the Steering Committee will make recommendations to Council and decisions (where applicable) in the best interest of the City as a whole.
Agendas and Meeting Notes:
Agendas (including confidential materials as it related to property and legal matters) will be published ahead of meeting date, including attached documents required for discussion and decision making. Deadlines for attachments need to be respected to provide adequate time to read all required material to allow for comprehensive participation. If required, agenda items may be deferred at request of BLP member if materials are not distributed by deadlines.
BLP agendas and meeting notes will managed/prepared by the City Manager’s Office (CMO) and shared confidentially with Steering Committee members, City Clerk and Council Members.
The only thing left to do is order the new business cards.
Part 1 of a 4 part series.
Part 2 of a 4 part series
 By Pepper
February 9th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
A regular eagle eyed reader who follows the Mayor on Twitter brought this to our attention.
He points out that the flag used in the tweet is not the correct version
He then adds that we cannot use his name saying “I don’t want to be in her bad books.” adding that “errors are errors.”
The unfortunate part of this is that there are people who feel they will be in the “bad books” of an elected official if they call them out on something. This is really unhealthy for a democratic society.
What, though, if we have a Mayor who is spiteful with a vengeful streak?
What do you do then?
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
By Pepper Parr
February 3rd, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
It was one of those walk-on items; a piece of city business that wasn’t on the agenda.
It came from the Mayor who did not appear to have consulted with her peers before the meeting.
There was a certain awkward silence, which is hard to pick up on when the meeting is virtual and you can’t always see all the players at the same time.
It was short; set out as a Staff Direction it read:
Direct the Executive Director of Legal Services to undertake a detailed review of the feasibility of enacting a city wide health protection bylaw to be funded from the Contingency Reserve fund and report back by Q2 of 2021.
My first reaction was – what is this all about? Don’t we have a Public Health Unit at the Region that focuses on public Health?
The motion wasn’t actually ready – Council took a few minutes break while the short paragraph was typed up and put up on the screen.
 Kelven Galbraith, Chair of a Standing Committee waiting for the Mayor to complete the writing of a Staff Direction Kelvin Galbraith who was chair of the meeting asked if there were any questions. Rory Nisan, who seems to be the person that automatically supports whatever the mayor puts forward said he was very interested to see where this could go.
Angelo Bentivegna was next with his standard “two quick questions” approach. He wanted to know more especially about the “detailed” part and just how much of the Contingency Reserve fund was going to be used. He asked “how far are we going to get into this” and added that at this point he could not support the Staff Direction.
Council had just come out of a two hour CLOSED session on the Meridian Aldershot Quarry and were scheduled to do a hard stop at noon – with that hour just minutes away.
They needed to take a lunch break after which City Manager Tim Commisso spoke saying he felt that Bentivegna deserved a more detailed answer to his concerns.
Commisso pointed out that the Legal Services budget was not public. He seemed to be aware of what it was the Mayor wanted to bring forward and pointed out that Council can do whatever it wants to do.
Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman said he had concerns over the scope of what was before Council. He wanted to know who will do the actual work and noted that there is a Public Health Unit at the Region adding that he was not clear on just what was being done.
 Nancy Shea Nicol, Executive Director Legal Services At that point the Executive Director of Legal Services spoke saying she could put together a Terms of Reference document.
Commisso then said that this was something that was dealt with in the CLOSED session. Which CLOSED session?
 City Manager Tim Commisso Commisso was referring to the CLOSED session that had taken place earlier in the day relating to the Meridian Aldershot Quarry where Air Quality issues were part of the discussion.
We were aware that the city had included outside legal counsel with a background in environmental matters.
Commisso said there would be a specific lead role and that “Nancy will provide executive guidance that would provide a “consolidated approach”.
A muddy picture was getting muddier.
Councillor Stolte then spoke saying she wanted more information. She would later vote to move the matter to Council later in the month at which time the City Solicitor would have more information for them.
Councillor Kearns wanted to see a more honed in approach to whatever it was the Mayor wanted done. Reference was made to where this fit into the V2F document (Vision to Focus) by Kearns but not before she could say that she thought the city was lucky to have Nancy Shea Nicol on Staff (she is the Executive Director of Legal Services) because she was “an amazing person.”
Kearns wanted to know if this was an internal look at public health; did it include audio, smells – adding that the wording was obtuse and needed fine tuning and could be the equivalent to opening a Pandora’s box.
She wanted the matter deferred to Council.
 Mayor Marianne Meed Ward Meed Ward then spoke saying that “we are constrained” about what we can say and that the public will not know what we are talking about and what can be shared with the public.
Withholding information is the beginning of a slippery slope that leads to deliberately hiding information from the public.
What the Mayor did not share when she spoke was that previously the Executive Director of Legal Services had been asked to find lawyers with environmental experience.
Those lawyers are what we at the Gazette believe were speaking to Council in that CLOSED session.
In the fullness of time all the facts will come out. What we don’t want to hear is that the approach the Mayor has taken was what was best for the city.
Weeks before the 2018 election took place we said that of the three candidates running for the Office of Mayor Meed Ward was the only real choice.
And she is certainly in the process of making her mark on the city. She is also creating a profile of being bold and courageous and doing good things.
What is also being left is the view that she always knows best – this is not a view that is shared by most of her colleagues. The collaboration and a collective will of Council is not as evident as the Mayor would like it to be.
A Gazette reader recently made a comment that this Mayor wants everyone to know that She Is in Charge – democracies don’t work that way Your Worship.
What we will learn in the fullness of time is that Council will try and pass a city wide health protection bylaw that will relate to the quality of the air and what corporations will not be able to do when their product or the work they do releases pollutants into the environment.
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
“Ford threatened to shove an incendiary device into the “ying-yang” of any Pfizer executive if they did not give Ontario more coronavirus vaccines.” (CP24 – January 21, 2021).
 By Ray Rivers
January 24th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
It would be funny if it wasn’t so deadly serious. Pfizer is reducing its shipments of COVID vaccine due to the need for a stoppage to upgrade its production facilities. So it is disappointing. But the company says it will still meet its commitment for total shipments by the end of March, and beyond.
That sounds reasonable given that its other customers will also suffer delays, including European nations where the our vaccine is actually being manufactured. And remember that hardly anyone had even heard of COVID last year at this time, so getting any kind and amount of vaccine here is a blessing.
 The speed with which the vaccine was produced was impressive.  Premier Doug Ford: not having a good day. But that’s not good enough for Ontario’s fearsome premier who has called the Canadian president of Pfizer to complain, and is threatening to rent a truck and cross the land border to demand a million doses from newly installed US president Biden.
No doubt Ford’s demand would be well received, except that as bad as it is here with COVID, the US is worse. And does Ford really think Biden will give him a million doses when his biggest election promise was to inoculate 100 million Americans in his first 100 days in office.
Ford was largely responsible for the surge of COVID cases in Ontario. He loosened restrictions on social activity too rapidly in the late fall. But that he owns the surge hasn’t stopped him from casting about to lay the blame on someone else. In this case it is the Trudeau government and their contract with Pfizer. But it’s not the first time. He went after the Prime Minister over sloppy border control, though in that case rightfully so.
Not to be outdone in the crazy game is Ford’s BFF in Alberta, Jason Kenny, who has threatened to bypass the federal government and buy vaccine directly from…. somewhere. But his biggest headache today is that newly elected US president Biden has cancelled the Keystone oil pipeline, which Kenny was counting for extra cash on to help get Alberta out of its current hole.
Obama and Biden cancelled the pipeline back in 2015, but then Trump OK’d it again. Kenny must have thought Trump would win the US election because he poured $1.5 billion into the project and gave another $6 billion or so in loan guarantees. I guess he wasn’t reading the papers because everyone knew that Trump wouldn’t get re-elected, except Trump, of course.
 Not. the best of friends it would appear. It was Biden’s election promise and Kenny went ballistic when the new president followed though on it. Kenny demanded Trudeau do everything but launch a nuclear missile on Washington to get him to change his mind But how could Canada apply trade sanctions over a pipeline permit that is entirely in the hands of the US president and over US territory? How does the PM ask Biden to compensate Alberta because its premier was betting that Biden wasn’t going to win.
There is a faint hope that some rules of the old NAFTA might still apply and help Kenny get some kind of compensation, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. There were a thousand jobs on the Canadian side building the pipeline to nowhere – the Jason Kenny line. Those jobs are gone and Albertans will likely eat the $1.5 billion and more.
Losing Keystone is not the end of the world. Oil production in Alberta will still continue unabated as will selling it to the US. Keystone was significant only because it would have allowed Alberta to export even more oil than it already does. So Alberta’s oil industry will continue to operate, it just won’t get bigger – at least not until the federally owned Trans Mountain pipeline twinning is operational.
 Tesla 3 – Take a ride in one – appreciate the near total silence. But the reality is that fossil fuels are a dying proposition. Tesla sold almost a half million electric cars in the USA last year and now everybody is getting into the game. After all, gas powered vehicles cannot be sold in Norway after 2025, the UK by 2030 and Quebec and California after 2035. Does anyone other than Jason Kenny think the world needs another oil pipeline?
Jason Kenny might get some of his billions back by whining to Trudeau and Biden, and taking his case to NAFTA. But he won’t get Keystone back. There is no future for oil in Alberta, or anywhere, and the sooner Kenny comes to that realization the better for the people he serves.
Ontario should be glad that Doug Ford, as embarrassing as he can be, and not Jason Kenny is premier of this province. Now if only Ford could get our COVID numbers down.
Background links:
None of that Crap – Trudeau Letter on Keystone – How is it Going Jason –
Keystone Options – Raging Jason –
By Pepper Parr
January 20th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
Clarification:
Mayor Burton resigned from the Halton Police Services Board on January 11, 2021. The Police
Services Act, provides that the Head of Council is to be one of the members of
the Board unless he chooses not to serve. Regional Chair, Gary Carr has decided to assume the
vacant position. This is effective immediately upon swearing- in and does not require confirmation
by Council. The term is for the remainder of this term of Council, to expire November 14, 2022 or
when a successor is appointed.
There is probably going to be a change in the way the police services for the Region are going to be managed and led.
The Police Services Board has held 15 hours of meetings so far to determine what, if anything, they want to do with the current police chief who was out the country with the permission of Oakville Mayor Rob Burton who was the Chair of the Police Services Board.
 Oakville Mayor Rob Burton Burton resigned as the Chair last week but is still a member of the Board.
There has been considerable public reaction to the decision the Chief made in asking for permission and then actually leaving the jurisdiction when the province was under a lock down.
Burton realized he was in a difficult position and had to resign as Chair. His political future is something that we will look at later.
What to do with the Chief. There are clearly some differences within the Board – fire him? – how, when he had permission.
 Halton Regional Police Chief Stephen Tanner talks with Sgt Davies, the man who heads up the accident reconstruction unit. One of the options is to find a way to settle with the Chief – that will turn out to be an expensive option and one that will be hidden from the public. There will be a statement about thanking the Chief for his service and wishing him well in the future.
If the Board decides to fire the Chief he will most certainly sue for wrongful dismissal. That law suit will be public and that’s something the Region does not want.
The rank and file police are not happy people. Their Chief was not there for them when they needed him.
Clayton Gillis, the president of the Halton Regional Police Association, said Saturday he has heard claims made by a whistle blower on Twitter. He said he doesn’t engage in the social media platform.
“From my conversation with the Chief and the statement he released yesterday, I know that he has described his travels as ‘personal business matters’ and a ‘property matter.’ I don’t know any other details or if the rumours … are accurate,” he said.
“We will be seeking a more transparent, fulsome answer to why he travelled beyond what’s been given as an answer thus far,” Gillis added.
The Police Services Board will be holding another meeting on Thursday (January 21st) that will like the previous two, in a CLOSED session.
What will be different is that Halton Region Chair Gary Carr will be attending. His decision to become involved suggests that a decision will be made.
Don’t expect whatever decision is made to be made public on Thursday.
The decision made will be released to the public at a meeting that is open to the public on January 28th. There will be a Special meeting on Thursday the 21st. It will have one item on the agenda – electing a Chair and a Vice Chair for the 2101 term. There may be other items discussed but they will be done in a Closed session.
There are two options before the Police Services Board. Fire the chief or accept his resignation. If the Board fires Tanner it will result in a legal claim for a lot of money. Any claim would be made public and be messy – the optics will not be good.
The best in the way of optics is to carve out a deal with Tanner to pay him to just go away. The Board will not make whatever payment there might be public. It will get buried somewhere in the Regional Budget.
Tanner was a good police Chief; he was one of the police officers who earned a degree in psychology at the University of Guelph. He was a strong supporter of promoting women and putting them in positions where they could gain the experience to become leaders.
When he returned to Halton from Kingston where he was Chief it was a homecoming event. He was given his old police badge, returning to a community that was both fond of and proud of the man,
He made the wrong decision and a series of circumstances may result in a career coming to an end. This is the hard part of being transparent and accountable.
As for Burton – his future prospects are cloudy at best. The result of the 2018 election for the office of Mayor are set out below.
The people who run election campaigns will tell you that Burton can be beaten.
The first column is the election day vote, the second is the advance vote, the third is the total and the fourth is the percentage
| Rob Burton |
19,236 |
3,682 |
22,918 |
49.64 % |
| Julia Hanna |
16,565 |
2,866 |
19,431 |
42.09 % |
| John McLaughlin |
3,345 |
471 |
3,816 |
8.27 % |
Rob Burton could be toast as Mayor of Oakville as well.
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
By Pepper Parr
January 13th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
The Halton Police Services Board will meet on Friday in a closed session.
The former Chair of the Board, Oakville Mayor Rob Burton, gave up the Chair but is thought to still be a member of the Board.
Jeff Knoll, an Oakville Councillor and a member of the Police Services Board will serve as acting Chair during a meeting that will have legal counsel on hand to advise.
On December 21st, Premier Ford announced a lock-down to take effect Dec 26.
On December 22nd, Police Chief Stephen Tanner asked the then Chair Rob Burton for permission to leave the jurisdiction to travel to Florida on a private matter.
Burton gave permission and said at the time that he didn’t have a problem with the Chief being away.
On December 26th, Chief Tanner left for the United States.
On December 26th, the province invoked a shut down for 28 days.
There has been considerable demand for the Chief to be fired.
He asked for and was given permission to travel.
Can he be fired?
In order to lead a leader has to have the confidence and respect of the people being led.
The rank and file of the Halton Police Service are said to be “outraged”.
Driving their feelings is the fact that the Chief was not on hand to meet with the family of a Detective Constable who died while on an observation assignment in Burlington.
One of the Deputy Chiefs met with the officer’s family.
 Oakville Mayor Rob Burton  Chief of Police Steve Tanner It is a messy situation created when a foolish decision was made by Burton.
Can the mess be cleaned up?
The retirement of the Chief and the former Chair will resolve the problems.
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
By Ray Rivers
January 13th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
It seems that watching TV is about all there is to do during this lockdown. I was looking for something exciting to watch on the channels last Wednesday and boy did I find it. In fact I could swear I was only picking up one of those action movies on Netflix.
 Americans had never seen anything like this before. It was pretty fast moving though I kept thinking that I could probably have done a better job on the script and with the staging. Those police characters were getting walked over by the mob. Where was the army? After all, the last time the US Capitol got attacked it was by invading British troops in 1814.
And the invading squad seemed pretty authentic except for that nutter with the bull horns costume on his head. And where was the superhero who also shows up at times like these? I almost expected to see an Adam Schiff or Nancy Pelosi grab those invading bums by the scruff (or horns) and single handedly Sock!!! Pow!!! and Wham!!! them until they cried out UNCLE.
 Rioter seen frequently on TV screens. Will be seen in a Court House in the near future -minus the horns. And the script was America classic. I mean by the time the army (National Guard) showed up, dressed to the nines in riot gear with gas masks, and everything you’d expect but armoured personal carriers, it was all but over. Some of the clowns hung around thinking there might be a second scene to this movie – or maybe to give out autographs, but this movie, ‘insurrection’ was over.
The reality is that this attempted coup was far more serious than it seemed when sitting two metres from the TV screen. For one thing it’s pretty clear it had been premeditated. For his part Trump had primed his fans and this particular mob for weeks with his lies about the election. He and his pal Rudy actually told them to march to the Capitol building and fight for him. And there was something fishy about how long it took for federal troops to arrive.
The rioters were prepared for a serious occupation of the legislative building. They brought an assortment of assault weapons, Molotov cocktails, pipe bombs for distraction, wrist-tie straps for the hostages, and instruments to enable breaching the entrances. This had to be a planned invasion of the Congress, a takeover of the government and a plan to capture the political representatives as hostages – or did they always carry this kind of weaponry with them when they travelled.
These people – the Proud Boys, Q-Anon and other right wing extremist and conspiracy theorists – were looking for trouble. They were violent and aggressive. Four people died in the melee including one police officer and a rioter whose laser weapon accidentally nuked his family jewels. How do his kids explain to their classmates how their daddy died?
 The troops were not on hand at the beginning. The capital police force was outnumbered eight to one and over 50 officers suffered serious injuries and beatings. Their call for assistance from the DC National Guard was ignored by Trump’s hand picked military leaders until the fighting was pretty much over. Members of the Senate and House of Representatives had to be sequestered for safety in a crowded room and mostly without face masks. One 75 year old congresswomen has since been diagnosed with COVID as a result.
There was something about what I saw that made me think it could be a 1950’s movie. Most of the folks on the screen were white, especially those in the mob. Recall the way which the mostly peaceful Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstrations last summer were handled by the authorities. There was no shortage of military uniforms and tear gas on parade back then.
Of course the BLM protesters were neither armed nor were they trying to occupy the Congress. They were just asking not to be killed wantonly by the police. If ever anyone doubted white privilege, they’d just need to review the tape of the assault on the US legislation by the president’s men.
 Trump speaking to the rioters before they marched on the Capital Trump tried and he failed. Whether he is impeached or not, his future in US politics is over, and so is that of his family. The House of Representatives is charging him with inciting an insurrection against the legislative branch of the US government. It is very likely that he will have to face judgement in the US criminal system as well.
Trump may yet avoid judgement for this sedition or his tax evasion and other crimes. Perhaps he’ll seek asylum somewhere in a nation more friendly to him. There was an unsubstantiated report that a rioters who was arrested had requested a Russian translator – that should make anyone wonder about who this mob really was.
The FBI has warned more violence is likely on the way for inauguration day. One can only wonder what Trump really meant when he promised to make America great again. It certainly hasn’t improved television viewing.
 Ray Rivers was born and raised in Ontario and earned a degree in economics at the University of Ontario. He taught at a university in New Zealand for a period of time and then earned a Masters degree in economics at the University of Ottawa. His 25 year stint with the federal government included time with Environment, Fisheries and Oceans, Agriculture and the Post office.
After leaving the federal government he consulted for private sector and government clients. Ray became Executive Director for an organic farm certification organization and then executive director of Clean Air Canada, an environmental emissions trading company.
Rivers completed his first historical novel The End of September in 2012. This story about what might have happened had Quebecers voted for sovereignty association in that first referendum in 1980 is set in Ottawa and Montreal.
He has been active in his community including ratepayers groups, a food bank, environmental organizations, community journalism, policing and community associations and service clubs, churches, boy scouts, and community theatre.
Background links:
Capital Police – White Lies Matter More – Trump Limits Guard Role –
Trump Lies Trump and White Males
Russian Translator – Trump’s Team – Trumps Incitement –
National Guard and Trump –
By Pepper Parr
January 5th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
It will be a Receive and File report – no action will be taken unless there is a council member who asks for a change.
The purpose of the report in terms of the city’s current focus on its Vision is to:
• Building more citizen engagement, community health and culture
• Deliver customer centric services with a focus on efficiency and technology transformation
The report from the Clerk’s Office states that: “Accountability and transparency are key drivers in the Clerks Department. In working towards greater transparency there are small initiatives that have been completed during 2020 with respect to Council meetings.
“As these items touch upon how Council business is conducted, an information report has been provided to apprise Council and the public. The enhancements to accountability and transparency focus on the following areas:
• Staff Directions – new public reporting process, with dates assigned to all deliverables.
• Declarations of Interest – creation of an online register.
• Increasing Clerks Department open data sets.
The Gazette will be doing an article on each of the three and will start with the approach the city is taking to the matter of declarations of pecuniary interests.
 Councillor Galbraith is consistent in declaring his conflicts however we have not heard him say that he sent a notice to the Clerk. The City is required by the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act to maintain a publicly available registry of all declarations of pecuniary interest made by members. The registry must include the original written declaration provided by the member of Council. At present, the City of Burlington maintains a register, however it is not posted publicly and is only available upon request.
That the city has basically hidden the public information on declarations of pecuniary interest and in the process appear to have defined their view of transparency and accountability.
The Council of 2010 and 2014 liked it that way, particularly the member for ward 4 at the time.
“The Municipal Conflict of Interest Act, members of Council and local boards to declare any direct or indirect pecuniary interest in relation to a matter under consideration. A pecuniary interest relating to a matter is one where there is a reasonable likelihood or expectation of financial loss or gain by the member or related persons as defined in the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act.
“The onus to declare a pecuniary interest rests with the member, and there is time dedicated for these declarations on every meeting agenda. Members must complete a written statement of pecuniary interest and submit it to the Clerk. All declarations of pecuniary interest are recorded in the meeting minutes.
Enhancements Planned
“Staff have made enhancements to the declarations of pecuniary interest process to improve customer service, ensure greater accountability and transparency and comply with legislation.
“Currently the statement form is a word document that must be printed and completed or completed electronically and emailed to the Clerk. Moving forward the statement form will be automated and made available through the City’s website as an online form.
“Completed forms will be sent directly to the Clerk, reducing time delays and manual intervention. Conflicts will be filed in the City’s agenda management system and will be publicly available following each meeting in a conflicts registry, available to the public by way of the City’s website, will improve customer service and public access to the information.”
We all know how easy it is to find what you are looking for on the city’s web site.
“The new process is expected to be implemented in January. Further communication of the process will be provided to members of Council and local boards. Previous declarations made from the beginning of the term will be reflected in the registry.”
Will there be an announcement when the Registry is up and running? Don’t hold your breath waiting for that one.
 Kevin Arjoon City Clerk Kevin Arjoon, City Clerk said: “Accountability and transparency are key drivers in the Clerks Department. In working towards greater transparency some smaller initiatives were completed in 2020. As they are associated with Council and the meeting process, staff have provided a report to inform Council and the public of the program changes.”
What’s missing in the Clerk’s department is a passion for really serving the needs and interests of the public. Does the phrase: “How can I help you”, ever pass over their lips.?
 By Pepper Parr
January 1st, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
It is going to be a tough year.
It will be a long haul.
There is of course much hope but there is also a lot to think about.
The way we have failed to take care of those seniors who live in long term care facilities is shameful. The lady in my life said this morning that it must be terrible for an older person who “has all their marbles” to sit in their room realizing that there aren’t enough people to really take care of them.
Lurking behind this is the fact that demographically there is a huge wave of people who will find themselves in long term care facilities who should be asking if they are going to be taken care of.
The look of their “sunset years” has been painted out for them – it is not a pretty picture.
The vaccines are now being produced and people are being vaccinated – why there isn’t more assurance as to when the needle will be put in their arm is disturbing.
The eve of the New Year has traditionally been a time to celebrate and look forward to great things ahead.
This year our thoughts may well be asking how we are going to get through what we are experiencing and perhaps looking more closely at our core values.
Reading that the Ontario Minister of Finance slipped out of the country to enjoy a vacation and basically lied to the public about where he was, and the Premier seems to have covered for him, points out just how big the divide is between the haves and the have-nots.
Rod Phillips is the Minister who is responsible for the Ontario Jobs and Recovery Committee – the one that is going to get the provincial economy back on track; his ‘follows his own rules’ attitude doesn’t leave us with a surge of confidence.
There are more questions than answers at this point. The challenge for us is to find the core values that make us the people we are and then to ensure that they prevail.
By Pepper Parr
December 31st, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
I am sure the ethical frame work, released by the province yesterday, within which the distribution of vaccines will be distributed is important.
Did the public not expect that there would be one in place? This is not what the public wanted to know. People want to know when they will be getting their vaccinations.
 Are the long term care residents first? People understand that the people working the front lines in the hospitals and those in long term care facilities are high, very high on the list.
I would not want to be the one who had to choose which came first.
It is after those two groups that the vast majority of the public fall into.
When does the 90 year old in good heath get vaccinated?
And where will she go for that vaccination?
We read that there is a shortage of nurses who will do the inoculation and that the people making the decisions are calling in retired nurses and students.
We are just doing that NOW? That is work that should have been done months ago.
There is no rocket science in this. We have population data and we know how many people can be vaccinated in an hour. Do the math.
 Where are the young people on the schedule ? The public understands that it takes time to set things up – the bureaucrats and the medical community have had the time to get this work – March, April, May, June and July – when they knew there was going to be a second wave, and when it was becoming clear that a vaccine was going to be available.
Being told that the Ontario government has released an Ethical Framework for COVID-19 vaccine distribution which was developed in partnership with the COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force to guide further vaccine prioritization and distribution across the province doesn’t quite cut it in terms of keeping a public informed.
 Where are the front line workers on the inoculation schedule; the people at risk working for not much more than the minimum wage. “This ethical framework is a clear demonstration of our commitment to Ontarians to be transparent,” said General Rick Hillier (retired), Chair of the COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force. “We know that people are eager to get vaccinated and this framework helps ensure that we do it in an ethical, effective and compassionate way.”
“Phase One of Ontario’s three-phase vaccine implementation plan began on December 15, 2020 at two hospital sites, and increased to 17 additional sites the following week, with the delivery of 90,000 Pfizer-BioNTech doses. With Health Canada’s recent approval of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, the province can expect about 50,000 additional doses before the end of the month.”
Couple of questions: How many phases are there going to be and what are the dimensions of each phase ?
The people leading the program to get us all vaccinated as quickly as possible are not generating much in the way of public confidence.
We can do better than this. And we should be doing better than this.
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
By Ray Rivers
December 30th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
Premier Ford started an online petition to persuade the federal government to enhance border control, presumably to tighten quarantine and restrict flights from COVID hotspots. It may be a little unorthodox for a province to start a public petition, but he must have felt it was necessary.
Our federal government has a less than stellar history when it comes to border control. Failure to act earlier by closing the border and enforcing quarantine was responsible for bringing the virus into our communities in the first place.
But today most of the infection comes via community transmission. Alberta has a pilot program in place to either test or quarantine arriving passengers at its airports. Their records show that less than 2% of all arrivals are testing as positive. Of course, if all arrivals properly quarantined none of this should be a problem. But we know people cheat, even in New Zealand and Australia where the military confines arriving passengers into mandatory quarantine in dedicated hotels.
So bravo Mr. Ford. But before Ford goes all ballistic and accuses the federal government of sloppy border control, he should look in his own backyard. Ontario’s winter surge of COVID cases is almost entirely the result of half-hearted provincial policies. Having declared victory too early, last summer, Ford’s administration has now allowed the virus to spread even further into workplaces, grocery stores and gradually into schools.
 That lifting of the lock-down in March was probably not the Premier’s best decision. Ford’s enthusiasm in reopening the economy, pretending Ontario was back to some kind of near-normal was folly. Opening bars and restaurants, gyms and churches and expanding the allowed size of private gatherings have all contributed to the degree of sickness we now find.
The mixed messages and ever changing rules of the government’s COVID public health restrictions were proof that the authorities had no plan, were making it up on the run or just muddling through. And then there is the unfortunate hypocrisy, as for example, when one of the government’s senior ministers holidays in the Caribbean while the Premier lectures the rest of us to stay at home.
If Ford actually had a plan it would be ‘waiting for a miracle’ – the vaccine. And even with that his people have fumbled at getting it out of the starting gate. Ontario has the lowest rate of inoculations among all provinces. And stopping inoculations over the holiday period, as if waiting for Santa to return to the North Pole, has not helped the government’s credibility. Not that COVID ever takes a break!
Ford’s effort to restart the economy too early has set this province back, rather than move us ahead. It has turned out to be a short term gain for a much longer and more severe pain. He is fortunate that the federal government has been shouldering the vast majority of the costs of this pandemic. But we know there is only one taxpayer in this federation at the end of the day.
Sadly there is some question as to whether the vaccines will even stop the epidemic or just keep us from getting sick. A scientist at the World Health Organization (WHO) has speculated that the virus may continue unabated to spread and mutate, perhaps to a variant which can evade the vaccine we’ve just taken and/or become even more deadly as happened with the Spanish Flu.
The Teddy Bear makes it all bearable. While we are waiting for our jab in the arm, shouldn’t our biggest effort be to eliminate the virus to (near) zero, the hard and proven way, as New Zealand and even China have done?
The truth is we really don’t know what these vaccines will accomplish, for how long they will protect and even whether there will be longer term undesirable consequences for those immunized. But assuming they do work as hoped, at current roll-out rates it may take close to a year to immunize enough people to allow us to safely get back to some kind of normal. By contrast New Zealand eliminated its viral contagion in seven weeks with an extensive and enforced stay-at-home lock down.
Mr. Ford’s current partial lockdown for 28 days, given the extent of infection transmission, particularly in the workplace, is not likely going to be enough. All of these half-hearted solutions have only led to COVID fatigue and rule breaking and ultimately to some kind of mental health crisis. And the task is not hopeless. Atlantic Canada has shown how it is possible to manage a contagion while the rest of the provinces have floundered.
In hindsight perhaps controlling this epidemic was too big a job to be left in the hands of the provincial governments and their health authorities. Perhaps the Prime Minister should have enacted the Emergency Act as he had offered to do at the outset of the crisis. After all, the feds are picking up the tab while we lock down and they could hardly have done a worse job with the miserable series of lock-downs. But then Mr. Ford might reasonably point out that the feds needed to have got their own house in order first – and he’d point to border control.
Ray Rivers writes from time to time about whatever is on his mind. A former sheep farmer he has served as a federal bureaucrat for 25 years, ran for public office and lost. He was the founder of the first sustainability public interest group in Burlington.
Background links:
Ford’s Petition – Ontario Vaccinations – Acting Early –
Ontario Mess – Not Prepared – Ontario Minister Holiday –
WHO Scientist Doubts – Alberta Airport Arrivals –
By Pepper Parr
December 30th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
An Ontario politician who has already been charged once for disobeying COVID-19 rules is blatantly breaking them again.
MPP Randy Hillier posted a photo on Twitter Sunday showing himself and 14 other people at what appears to be a holiday celebration. He used the hashtag “#nomorelockdowns” to accompany the photo, which shows disregard for Ontario’s public health guidelines.
In another tweet, he confirmed the photo was taken Dec. 27.
Ontario has been in a province wide lockdown since Dec. 26, put in place to combat the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus and ease the strain on the province’s health-care system.
Announcing the lockdown last week, Premier Doug Ford said it was a necessary measure to save hospitals from becoming overwhelmed in upcoming weeks. Currently, no indoor social gatherings are allowed, except for those with members of the same household.
 Randy Hillier, MPP for an Eastern Ontario riding had been expelled from the Tory Caucus, is still pushing back over the Covid rules. Ontarians found guilty of hosting illegal private gatherings can face a fine ranging from $10,000 to $100,000, according to the Reopening Ontario Act.
In November, Hillier said on Twitter he was charged for his role organizing a large gathering at Queen’s Park in Toronto. He has opposed lockdowns and masks and has promoted a debunked pandemic conspiracy theory in the Ontario legislature.
Ford previously called the MPP “totally irresponsible” for the protest. The premier said he’s “never figured out” anti-maskers who believe COVID-19 is a hoax, saying, “this is a very serious virus we’re seeing … around the world, around our country.”
People on Twitter have called for Hillier to resign.
This comes after more than 40 local physicians signed an open letter to Hillier in December, fact-checking his incorrect claims about COVID-19.
“You are spreading misinformation that minimizes the seriousness of COVID-19 to support your personal anti- lockdown and anti-mask beliefs,” Dr. Jeanette Dietrich wrote.
“I urge the public to ignore you and heed the advice of trained health care professionals. Continue to practice social distancing, wear masks, and keep everyone safe.”
The above was picked up from Huffington Post Canada.
 Described as The Island for Billionaires St. Barts was the holiday destination for the province’s Minister of Finance while the rest of Ontario is under a month long lock down. It gets worse. We learned today that the Ontario Minister of Finance, Rob Phillips, had slipped out of the country early in December to the Caribbean island of St. Barts to celebrate the holidays in the sunny, sunny south.
Premier Ford, said he was not aware the Minister had left the county and ordered him to return immediately.
 Rod Phillips, was once the Minister of the Environment and moved into Finance. He was at one time the Chair of Post Media. His is going to have to get some media help to get out the mess he is in now. The Minister did leave for his holiday, which had been planned sometime before the lock down was put in place.
While out of the country his staff was sending out tweets which implied that he was still in the country serving the public.
An example of really sick hypocrisy.
Durham Region, where Phillips’ constituency is located, entered into the “control” phase of Ontario’s tiered lockdown system in late November. Public health guidance for this phase says trips outside of the home “should only be for essential reasons.”
Tweets from Phillips’ official Twitter account reminded Ontarians on Christmas Eve to thank the “special heroes” making sacrifices during the pandemic.
“As we all make sacrifices this #Christmas, remember that some of our fellow citizens won’t even be home for Christmas dinner over Zoom,” the tweet reads.
“Thousands of front line heroes will be at work, looking out for us.”
 There was a time when Stocks were set up in public places where offenders against public morality formerly sat imprisoned, with their legs held fast beneath a heavy wooden yoke. It was never outlawed – just fell out of favour. Might be time to bring it back Several photos of Phillips on public visits to small businesses and fundraisers were taken before his trip and were tweeted while he was abroad.
The only thing we haven’t heard from the Minister are the words “Let them eat cake”.
The Premier should think in terms of firing Phillips.
Dozens, perhaps hundreds of young people have had to cancel wedding plans because of the 10 person limit lock down requirement for gatherings of people.
With hundreds dying from Covid there are literally thousands who will not be able to attend funerals for the departed.
What I am looking for is a word stronger than ‘hypocrisy’. Putting Phillips in stocks on the lawn outside the Legislature might be an appropriate punishment.
The bigger damage is to the concept of public service which used to be something that was seen as noble. The giving of one’s self to serve the public, which is certainly what those thousands of hospital workers who care for those with COVID-19 are doing, gets trashed by people like Phillips.
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
By Pepper Parr
December 21st, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
We are all in this together.
Is there a member of council who hasn’t used this phrase?
Perhaps Councillor Sharman.
A Gazette reader sent in a comment which we have edited for length and clarity.
His concern was what a tax increase next budget might look like. His view was that a 0% increase was necessary because there are hundreds, perhaps thousands who are not working because their jobs disappeared or because they have been infected with the Covid19 virus.
“ I think we have entered a new reality. The costs of this pandemic have overwhelmingly and been shouldered by the private sector–layoffs, reduced wages, business closures and bankruptcies, increased private debt.
Governments and their employees have largely been sheltered from the worst economic impacts of this pandemic; even before the pandemic, public sector workers were enjoying higher wages, benefits, and pensions than their private sector counterparts. In this environment, governments have no moral authority to go to workers in the private sector and raise their taxes further depressing their standard of living in order to maintain the incomes and benefits of workers in the public sector.
“It is clearly time for governments of all stripes, including the current free spenders on Brant Street, to start reducing their spending …”.
What about a 10% pay cut for the members of Council – the savings would be put into a fund that would be available to those retailers in the city who are taking it in the ear,
The 10% would apply to just the salary – not the gold plated pension or the benefits.
When compared to the council members in the other three Halton municipalities Burlington Councillors have a very sweet deal.
A 10% piece of the base salary would amount to $5000 each. We are talking about just the city salary – our Councillor are also Regional Councillors and the source of the other half of their $100,000 a year pay cheque.
Such a gesture might restore some of the moral authority our reader thinks this council no longer has.
Can this be done – it wouldn’t be easy but it could be done. There was a time when Marianne Meed Ward didn’t think free parking was a benefit she could accept and said she would return the value of that benefit to the city.
Not certain if the Meed Ward followed through on that every year she was a Council member.
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
By Pepper Parr
December 18th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
Mayor said ” she has been in close contact with police and has a security plan.”
A little over-reaction perhaps?
The Gazette published an article yesterday about a group that announced it plans to do a citizen’s arrest as their way of protesting over the wearing of facial masks.
The group, Stand4THEE, created a web site, a Face Book page and an Instagram page. Any nutcases can do the same thing.
The group did say in a note to the Gazette that a citizen arrest does not necessarily mean taking a person into custody. Their comment read: “It also should be noted that in order to exercise a citizen’s arrest, as per Bill C-26, the person being arrested does not need to be present.”
They might want to let the police know that.
Misguided? Most certainly. Perhaps we should have ignored them.
Was this important enough to call in the police? Does the Mayor think she is really at personal risk? Will we see a police officer in full SWAT level gear walking beside the Mayor for the next few days?
 Mayor Meed Ward can usually be found at City Hall. The mayor of Burlington says “she, and police, are taking precautions prior to a protest planned for Friday”, in which members of an anti-mask group claim they are attempting to place her under citizen’s arrest.
Mayor Marianne Meed Ward said she has been in close contact with police and has a security plan.
The CBC reports that the Mayor said: “I’ve taken appropriate measures to make sure that my safety is protected.”
She said police have told her there is “no reasonable grounds” for what the group is trying to do.
She said she supports people’s right to protest, and believes the group members will not attempt to use physical force based on their social media statements.
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
By Pepper Parr
December 16th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
The leading edge of the second wave of Covid19 infections has hit.
2275 new cases in Ontario yesterday.
Hospitals advised to set aside 15% of their beds for Covid cases and we are still not in a total lock-down phase.
 Premier Doug Ford at one of his many media events. The Premier of the province has just not been able to fully understand what it is he has to deal with.
His focus is on the pain the private sector will have to cope with were he to shut everything down.
He understands how the world of business works, the Tories see the world that way.
This is no longer about business – this is about survival and being responsible.
The Premier has said again and again he doesn’t want the damage from the virus to land on the backs of the hard working Canadians who have put everything they have into the businesses they operate.
There are thousands of people who have not survived the virus. They died.
There will be many commercial organizations that will not survive.
Those are hard facts we have to accept
A public opinion survey done by the Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies reports that majority of Canadians support a lock down; 65% of the respondents would like to see everything shut down except for the essentials – drinking a beer in a public place is not essential – if it is there are support groups that can help you.
The vaccine that everyone has been waiting for is now available. It will take some time to get it into the arms of everyone. We each have to wait until it is our turn to roll up our sleeves.
We will get through this.
In order to actually get through this – everything has to be shut down.
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
“Speaking with reporters during a regular briefing at city hall on Wednesday, [Toronto] Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen de Villa said that the recent increase in cases is a “concern” but is not altogether surprising in the context of the broader reopening of the economy.” (Chris Fox, CP24.com, August 26, 2020)
By Ray Rivers
December 14th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
When I mention New Zealand’s success in eliminating COVID I am immediately lectured about it being a little island in the Pacific with a relatively small population. Canada may border the USA but we enacted essentially the same border restrictions as New Zealand. And as for being small, New Zealand’s population density is almost four times that of Canada and greater than Ontario’s.
 Did Ontario miss a chance to do what New Zealand did. No one over there has to wear a mask. Today New Zealand and its sister island in the Pacific, Australia, have eliminated COVID almost entirely. That means no transmission and no more deaths. In New Zealand it also means that masks are not required, even for public transit. Anyone can go to movies, concerts, bars and restaurants as if the pandemic never happened. And perhaps most importantly, they will get to enjoy having their loved ones around them at this special time of year.
Their success, according to the respected British public health journal ‘The Lancet’ lies in having a clear pandemic plan with a target of zero COVID infections. Quarantine requirements are strict and community spread has been eliminated. In the event of an imported infection they quickly and effectively test and trace and isolate. And were an infection to start to spread they are not afraid to undertake a complete lock down until it’s over. And significantly the government’s communication is clear and consistent.
Canada is a federation with shared responsibility for public health and the provinces have insisted on taking the lead in dealing with COVID. But one look at the extent and growing number of infections and deaths and it is clear they have messed up. New Zealand’s prime minister has offered advice to US president-elect Biden as he prepares to tackle COVID as his number one priority. Apparently our provincial premiers could use some as well.
 Ontario chose to flatten the curve. was that the best decision? And the place to start would be our pandemic target, which was never zero transmission, let alone zero infection. Our pandemic policy is primarily focused on flattening the curve. We are willing to accommodates some level of the virus transmission providing the death rate isn’t too high and hospitals aren’t too full. That means that we will continue to experience these on-again and off-again quasi-lockdowns until, we all hope, the vaccine can give us ‘herd immunity’ so that the virus will disappear.
The problem is that hundreds of thousands more Canadians may get the infection in the interim; an unknown number will be afflicted with long term after effects; and hundreds, if not thousands, more will die. And the danger of hosting all of that virus in our community is that it might mutate to a more deadly form, as the 1918 Spanish Flu did, and possibly negate the effectiveness of our vaccines.
 This is not a happy man. A glance at any Canadian newspaper will tell you how badly our provincial leaders and their chief medical people have failed us. Still they are not prepared to tolerate criticism, regardless how constructive. Alberta’s Kenny, with the worst infection rate in the country, and COVID soon to be the leading cause of death, calls it ‘Alberta bashing’, even when fellow Albertan’s complain. And Doug Ford labels his critics ‘arm chair quarterbacks’ even though they include some of the real-time front-line disease experts in the province.
Dr. Williams, Ontario’s chief medical officer, dispassionately admits an average of 25 deaths a day in this province, a number which will be increasing as the virus skyrockets from just below 2000 per day to as many as 5000 per day. Hospitals and their ICUs are nearing capacity and surgeries are already being postponed. And Christmas has been effectively cancelled in the province. By any measure of public health this is a disaster.
As we get ready to roll up our sleeves here for a vaccine, which may not even last till the end of the pandemic, we find that New Zealand is in no hurry to vaccinate its population – they don’t need to.
From the beginning of the pandemic that country has lost 25 people to COVID, that is how many people die every day here in Ontario. Between now and Christmas there will be almost 200 fewer of us to see the holiday in this year.
For some bizarre reason Mr. Ford has been able to maintain his popularity despite such a miserable record. Though there won’t be much to celebrate for the rest of us this year, even as Zoom let’s us virtually speak to the family who won’t really be with us. And for the most vulnerable and/or those living alone this will be the worst Christmas ever. Hey, the truth is we’re all to blame for letting this outbreak get so bad, but Mr. Ford is supposed to be guiding us – he says he is there for all of us.
For now it is a soft lockdown for Burlington – the purgatory of the red zone, replete with its dozens of rules which seem to get changed every day as if just to confuse us. But still it’s too little and way too late. Somebody was sleeping at the switch again before this train of disease really got rolling. Now, what a mess! It’s little wonder that Ford is too embarrassed to even attend his daily COVID briefings anymore. Besides, how does one say Merry Christmas after stealing it from you?
Ray Rivers writes regularly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was once a candidate for provincial office in Burlington. He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject. Ray has a post graduate degree in economics that he earned at the University of Ottawa. Tweet @rayzrivers
Background links:
Opening Up Too Soon – New Zealand – Kenny Alberta Bashing –
Ontario Lockdowns – Ontario Deaths –
 By Staff
December 13, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
Those that got the message and were aware – came out in small groups.
 Families gathered on the streets with the older ones running alongside to keep up. The traffic on Twitter was heavy – so the word was being passed around.
Santa was in town – making visits to different parts of the city.
Kudos to the Parka and Recreation people for making this happen.
Use of face masks was spotty.
But people did have fun.
If a picture is worth a thousand words – here is several thousand.
 A little warmer and it could have been a picnic.  That child had the best view on the street.  Santa had quite a welcoming crew on this street.
 The old Ho Ho man himself  The snow man waves to Santa as he passes by.  The message that was there for everyone to read – Stay Safe – Follow the rules. Photography was done by Denis Gibbons who recently wrote a piece on how he thought the Canadian teams in the National Hockey League should be organized for the next season
Worth reading.
Gibbons on bringing the game back home.
 By DENIS GIBBONS
December 11, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
Nothing good occurs during a pandemic, yet some of its side effects could bring positive changes.
The NHL, for instance, has decided to create an all-Canadian division for the 2020-21 season so that players do not have to cross the U.S. border, potentially leading to a spread of the COVID-19 virus.
The Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks and Winnipeg Jets will play only in their own group.
 I’m suggesting they take things a step further and award the Stanley Cup to the champion of the Canadian division.
Only the goals scored by Canadian players should count, except those scored against Canadian goalies, which would not!
However, the goalies who surrendered those goals would issue a coupon entitling the shooter to one free penalty shot.
That shot, if successful, would count as a goal.
Canadian networks, alone, should have the rights to telecast the games. And to steal a page, in reverse, from Donald Trump’s notebook, commercials should promote just Canadian-made products.
Before the season starts in January, each of the seven Canadian clubs would be allowed to draft five Canadian-born players from the rosters of the other 24 American teams. In return, each American club losing a player would be compensated with their choice of either two Europeans or three Americans.
That is deemed to be fair market value, according to the results of the last two Olympics and last two World Cups of Hockey, all of which have been won by Canada.
The champagne, traditionally sipped out of the Cup, would be replaced by Canadian Club whiskey, for those who imbibe. Tee-totallers could use maple syrup harvested from a Canadian bush.
Let’s make this a genuine Canuck Stanley Cup final by having the final series played in Ottawa, the nation’s capital, where the Ottawa Silver Seven defeated the Dawson City Nuggets to win Lord Stanley’s mug in 1905.
  Much has been written about the 1905 Stanley Cup Challenge when the Silver Seven played host to the Nuggets, a team with no league that traveled 4,000 miles from the Yukon by dogsled, ship and train to compete for the Cup.
It took them a month and, naturally, exhausted, they suffered humiliating losses by scores of 9-2 and 23-2. One-eyed Frank McGee, who lost the use of his left eye during an amateur game for a local Canadian Pacific Railway team scored 14 goals for Ottawa in the second game.
Sadly, McGee was killed fighting during the First World War in France. He was among the original inductees of the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1945.
Since the Dey’s Rink, which hosted the 1905 games, no longer exists, I recommend the series be played in the ornate Aberdeen Pavilion, the steel and glass structure at Lansdowne Park that was the site of the 1904 Stanley Cup challenge, also won by the Ottawa Silver Seven.
The pavilion was designated a national historic site because it is the only large-scale exhibition building in Canada surviving from the 19th century.
There are plenty of good reasons to exclude American teams from competing for the Stanley Cup.
When the Cup first was awarded to the Montreal Hockey Club in 1893, it was designated for Canadian amateur teams only. That was 24 years before the NHL even began.
Professional clubs did not become eligible to compete for the Cup, which was donated by Canada’s Governor General at the time, Lord Stanley of Preston, until 1906.
Besides Lord Stanley, who was born in England, authorized the construction of an outdoor rink on the grounds of Rideau Hall and was a benefactor of the Ottawa Hockey Club.
Two of his sons, Arthur and Algernon, were teammates of James Creighton on the Rideau Rebels team.
It was Creighton who organized the first official indoor game of hockey at the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal in 1875.
Lord Stanley’s daughter, Isobel, participated in the first recorded women’s ice hockey match, which took place on the Rideau rink on February 10, 1891.
This old blusterball welcomes the comments of all readers of The Burlington Gazette.
Denis Gibbons, a former editor of the Burlington Post has written frequently about hockey at both a local and international level. He learned to speak Russian at McMaster University and served as a translator during several of the international contest.
Related news story:
He was once an alter boy
By Pepper Parr
December 9th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
In a couple of weeks the kids will be coming home for the holidays.
I know of at least one student who expects to be on the plane on the 21st arriving from the Maritimes where the virus spread has been pretty limited relative to the rest of the country.
Her brother will be coming home from an Ontario university west of Burlington.
 Given the rules these students will be required to self-isolate for 14 days. Count them – December 21st + 14 days gets them to January 2nd or third.
What are the chances of that actually happening ? These are decent people in the process of becoming adults.
They come from good families with parents who are going to want them to do the right thing.
Checking in with friends, getting together for coffee because there is nowhere they are able to scoot off to for a drink is what you do when you are home from school.
This kind of getting caught up doesn’t get done on the telephone but it does get done.
Expecting the rules to be rigidly adhered to is a huge stretch; the outcome will be a rises in the number of infections both in every town in the province and in the communities to which these students return.
Something to think about.
 How much higher will that blue line go once the students return to the universities and colleges? Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
 By Mildred Austria
December 2, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
What industries are some of the most profitable in 2020, and how are they achieving this? We took a closer look at three here!
The world of business is filled with so many interesting sectors nowadays, but there are still some that stand heads and shoulders above the rest. Let’s take a look at some of the most profitable industries operating this year.
 Any of the three successful business choices we outline will put cash in that jar on the right.
Gaming
Without a doubt, gaming is proving to be one of the biggest industries of the moment. Brands like Mr Green as a prime example are leading the expansion of safe betting and casino options across the USA and Canada. What’s more, there has been a massive boom in e-sports growth.
It is slowly moving from being a niche hobby into a more mainstream business. With that will come bigger sponsorships and more opportunities for people in the industry. The marketplace has so far exceeded $1 billion and this is just set to get bigger. Top matches are also pulling in figures akin to major sports events like a FIFA World Cup Final.
 Play Station 5 Even in the wider industry there are massive strides forward being made. Sony is lining up to release the PlayStation 5. Though we currently have little idea about when this release will be, it will hopefully be as innovative a release as its previous incarnations. Gaming as a whole is on the rise. Though many dismiss it as “just playing games”, this then leads to them missing out on some of the incredible opportunities available in this exciting development in the gaming universe.
Software Development
As we move towards a world that becomes more and more reliant on technology, we are going to need more software developers to help us achieve our goals. There have been many moves to introduce coding and other digital-based skills to young children in the classroom, so they can begin to pick up things that might help them when they are ready to enter the workplace later in life.
 Software coding skills are going to be in very high demand in the decade ahead. Not only have there been calls for software that covers a variety of new tasks within a workplace or home, but there have also been calls to make many more multi-purpose software hubs. Business owners don’t want to transfer data between multiple programs to get the results they need. They want to be able to plug everything into the one portal, so that they can get back results that have already been parsed and analysed into a format they understand. Software developers are keen to meet these demands, and it makes for an incredibly profitable industry.
Property
With property prices holding or moving up, there is no better time to be involved in the real-estate business. In the Burlington area alone, sale prices are up 17% compared to the beginning of 2019. There are lots of opportunities at both ends of the market here. Developers who want to focus on the high-end, luxury market will find plenty of things to play with. There are always new property trends and new tech that you can introduce to the right property.
At the other end of the scale, you could choose to work in the affordable housing markets. There is and always will be a need for affordable property. This sector will help to create homes and houses for those who need them the most. Choosing to get involved with this area of the real estate sector is incredibly charitable, and it could result in some brilliant business dealings for anyone brave enough to try.
These are just three of the many industries proving to be profitable in 2020. No matter where you look, there is a way to make money in a sector. It will take a lot of hard work, and a great business idea, but it is more than possible.
Start thinking about a business you could launch in one of the above sectors now.
Ms Austria is a financial observer who has established a reputation for being able to spot growth trends in the Western world.
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