 By Pepper Parr
April 4th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
A report that was going to need a couple of months to be completed by the consultant the city had hired was given a big push and – on Tuesday Council will be asked to receive the report and endorse the recommendation from The Planning Partnership
The Appendix A part of the 245 page document is where the meat on the bone is set out. We will publish that as a seperate article.
The 400 page addendum to the Standing Committee will be debated on Tuesday. – virtually
 The white dotted line is the study area. The elephant in the room is the waterfront hotel site. What gets put on that property impact everything else. Receive the “Waterfront Hotel Planning Study Planning Justification Report” dated March 23, 2022, prepared by The Planning Partnership Limited, E
Endorse in principle the Waterfront Hotel Planning Study, the recommended Preferred Concept Plan, site-specific draft Official Plan policies, directions for a future Zoning By- law amendment and site-specific Urban Design Guidelines as detailed in Appendix “A” to community planning department report PL-28-22; and
Consider the Waterfront Hotel Planning Study findings in Council’s consideration of the site-specific development applications for 2020 Lakeshore Road.
The consultants are saying – no more public engagement – we have heard all we need to hear – let’s just get on with it – or words to that effect.
 The Mayor and Councillor Lisa Kearns bought into the Plan B objectives and became champions for it.  The Plan B people put a lot of pressure on the ward Councillor Lisa Kearns and the Mayor – those two bought into what Plan B was advocating, championed that point of view and ipso facto ( an inevitable result) a report comes popping out.
The city needed to close this poorly handled stage of downtown development.
What is particularly concerning is that the continued failures on the part of the Planning department took place when we had a Mayor who was going to bring some order to the way developments were handled.
One paragraph in the report, as dismal as it is, reflects what has been going on. It reads: Subsequently, the Waterfront Hotel Planning Study was placed on hold due to other various priorities in the Community Planning Department such as the new Official Plan process.
The decision came from the City Manager and Council went along with it. No one asked what the down side risk was. We now know what that risk is.
One Councillor who didn’t want to be quoted said to me during a conversation: “What Vision” – this city doesn’t have a vision.
 The PIER went trough its trial and tribulations. The city ended up with a tower that did nothing other than add to the price. It was supposed to house a wind turbine that would pay for the electricity used. The building of The Pier went through a similar tortuous process. In that situation the city paid for The Pier twice and went through one of the biggest collection of insurance law suits this city has ever seen.
The purpose of the study was to provide a land use and urban design framework to inform site-specific policies to guide a future redevelopment of the Subject Site.
 The quaint small village feel is hard to experience as you walk by the six level podium that has been proposed. The problem with that approach was that the city took so long to get the study completed that the owner of the Waterfront Hotel got tired of waiting and filed a development application that will plunk two 40+ towers at the bottom of Brant Street and crowd the sidewalk of Lakeshore with the kind of structure you find on Bloor Street in Toronto.
The time line the city was faced with was a treacherous path. When the Community Planning, Regulation and Mobility Committee iinformed Council on January 11, 2022, that the anticipated timeline to complete the study was 16-17 weeks a wave of indigestion must have hit the tummies of every member of council. They came back with a Staff Direction:
 They did it virtually – made sure that the Waterfront Study was going to be completed in time. Out went the 16 – 18 week. They had a couple of weeks to deliver. Direct the Director of Community Planning to complete the Waterfront Hotel Study within the statutory time frame of processing the pending application related to the Waterfront Hotel (2020 Lakeshore Road) so as to inform the review of any development proposal on this site in accordance with the policies of the Official Plan.
The time frame was this: The developer had the right to appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal for a decision because the city did not respond within the allotted 120days – in order to avoid such an appeal the city had to complete their review of the application before April 17th.
The city Planning department “refusal” report is to be heard at Council on the 12th.
An overview of the Study findings is summarized below:
 This is the concept the consultants working on the Waterfront Hotel Study are putting forward based on the work they have been doing since 2017. The question is – Is this the best the city can do? And does it comply with the vision. The recommended preferred concept (2022):
has regard for matters of Provincial Interest, policy and legislation and has been designed with consideration for the intent of the applicable Regional and Local Municipal policies and guidelines;
reflects overall alignment with City’s in-force Official Plan (1997), the new Official Plan (2020), ROPA 48 and emerging context within the Study Area;
delivers a vibrant mix of uses that will reinforce and support the continuing evolution of the Downtown;
provides for a compact built form that is transit supportive, provides for a range of housing, supports intensification and provides for a range of uses
enhances the streetscape along Lakeshore Road unified with a common language of materials and design elements;
provides for public view corridors down Brant and John Streets to Lake Ontario;
provides for on-site parkland dedication to enhance public access to Spencer Smith Park and build upon an important landmark through high quality open space;
Proposed urban design guidelines will provide site-specific guidance related to the conditions and context of the site to implement the Vision and Principles established through the consultation process and subsequently endorsed in principle by Council in early 2018;
An Official Plan Amendment (OPA) to the in-force OP is required to implement the findings of this Study, and include site specific directions related to matters such as massing and scale, transportation and public open spaces; and,
A Zoning By-law Amendment (ZBA) will be required to implement the OPA. The Study recommends that a rezoning process take place in the future to consider the Preferred Concept (2022) and would also be supported by detailed technical studies.
The following sections of this report summarizes the recommended preferred concept and implementation tools.
The recommended preferred concept is based on the inputs and work completed in 2017 and 2018, feedback on the emerging preferred concept (2022) and consideration for the relevant policy drivers and changes since the Study paused in mid-2018. Section 6.0 of the Planning Justification Report (see Appendix “A”) provides a comprehensive overview of the preferred concept plan.
Highlights of the Recommended Preferred Concept/ Highlights of the preferred concept include:
Land Use / Built Form
• Building heights: 21 storeys for the west tower and 22 storeys for the east tower
• John Street public view corridor with a minimum width of 18 metres
• Stepping down of built form toward Lake Ontario
• 3-storey podium/street wall along Lakeshore Road
• Active at-grade uses like commercial, retail and restaurants
• Focus on a strong pedestrian relationship to the streets and public spaces
Public Realm
• Enhance Brant Street as a gateway to the Downtown, the Waterfront and the Waterfront Trail
• Enhance the entrance to Spencer Smith Park and the Brant Street public view corridor
• Additional public parkland identified on the west and south sides of the Subject Site:
o West side: 0.13 ha
o South side: 0.05 ha
o Total: 0.18 ha
• Provide a John Street public view corridor and inclusion of a privately-owned public space (POPS)
• Maintain existing trees along Lakeshore Road
Mobility and Access
• Remove existing vehicular access at the foot of Brant Street
• Site access for parking and loading from Elizabeth Street
• Active Transportation route along Lakeshore Road, including a painted buffered bike lane as identified in the City’s Cycling Master Plan
• No surface parking on site
Future Zoning By-law Amendment
A Zoning By-law Amendment (ZBA) will be required to implement the OPA. The Study recommends that a rezoning process take place in the future to consider the Preferred Concept. Furthermore, the Study provides that:
“A future rezoning process, supported by technical studies and further evaluation, would allow for flexibility to achieve an interesting built form that would better respond to the landmark nature of this site. This ZBA process would take place in the future and would advance additional engagement through the statutory public process. It would allow for the principles of this Study to be further advanced and explored through meaningful active engagement with the public and stakeholders of this project. Furthermore, a rezoning in the future would allow for community benefits to be leveraged through Section 37.” (or in accordance with alternative benefit charges).
Site-Specific Urban Design Guidelines
The Study recommends site-specific urban design guidelines that will apply to the development of the Subject Site.
 When the two towers are in place the pressure to allow higher intensification on this part of Brant that is a two walk away in distance will be tremendous. The two towers remake the downtown – which is fine – if that it what you want. The intent of the site-specific urban design guidelines is to augment and enhance the City existing urban design documents by providing site-specific guidance related to the conditions and context of the site. They will work together with the guidance provided in the City’s design documents to implement the Vision and Principles established through the Study’s consultation process phase and subsequently endorsed in principle by Council in June 2018.
The site-specific urban design guidelines are provided in Section 6.3 of the Study (Appendix “A”).
The recommended site-specific urban design guidelines provide guidance with regards to:
• Built Form (Building Placement; Building Height, Massing and Transition; Tower Separation; Podium Height; and Setbacks / Stepbacks);
• Access and Mobility; and
• Public Realm (John Street View Corridor; Spencer Smith Park; Lakeshore Road; and Elizabeth Street).
Staff Position on The Study’s Recommendations
Staff are supportive of the recommendations as outlined in the Study
Delivers a vibrant mix of uses that will reinforce and support the continuing evolution of the Downtown;
• Has regard for matters of Provincial, Regional and Local Municipal policies and guidelines;
• Includes tall mixed-use buildings with commercial uses at grade, and residential and/or hotel uses which address many Provincial, Regional objectives and aligns with the overall directions established by ROPA 48;
• Achieves the City’s vision as articulated in the in-force OP (1997) and considers the policy direction of the new OP (2020);
• Provides residents and jobs and public open spaces in this central location that will further support the creation of a complete community; and,
• Creates a special place by balancing significant new redevelopment with public amenities and accessible open spaces.
It is staff’s opinion the completion of the Study has been fulfilled with the delivery of The Planning Partnership’s Planning Justification Report.
 By Connor Fraser
March 27th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
Electric vehicle charging infrastructure is becoming a real problem – and it’s likely going to get a lot worse.
 The city has installed a number of charging stations in its parking lots. If you’ve driven past Mapleview Mall recently, chances are that you’d notice a flock of cars waiting to access the electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. Through my family and friends, I know several young and middle-aged individuals who recently purchased an EV, and every third day must line up and wait in limbo for 30+ minutes while their car charges. What a (mostly avoidable) real waste of time.
I have also spoken with many who live in condominiums or apartment buildings that are reluctant to purchase EV’s because their parking spaces are not yet equipped with the necessary infrastructure. In an existing condo or apartment, the barrier becomes enormous due to large renovation costs. If residents who are not currently in the market for an EV don’t want to contribute, the expense becomes too prohibitive to share amongst the few residents that do. Many of my friends are first-time car owners and – since they tend to live in apartments – found the lack of infrastructure especially constraining of their excitement to purchase an EV.
 There are charging stations throughout many cities. Electric Vehicles are a real part of our future. In 2021, the Federal Government announced an ambitious target to ensure that 100% of car and passenger truck sales are zero-emission by 2035. The question becomes: How can we adopt this technology in a way which maximizes convenience, and minimizes disruptions – such as wasting time lining up to use public charging stations? Electric vehicles are a distinct technology requiring different interactions than conventional autos. Electricity cannot be transferred as rapidly as gasoline, which makes charging painful for those short on time. Although EVs are increasingly evident on the streets, I don’t believe that anyone (government, community groups) is having a serious conversation about the infrastructure required to support their use, and how that infrastructure should be distributed.
My opinion is this: We should aggressively prioritize uptake of private charging infrastructure, and carefully plan public or semi-private infrastructure to “fill in the gaps” and accommodate those who cannot access private charging. Research shows that poorly planned public charging infrastructure goes underutilized, and is rarely profitable as an investment. Furthermore, consumer research consistently reveals a preference for the convenience of private charging opportunities wherever possible, given the amount of time it saves. Imagine replacing the semi-weekly routine of replenishing your vehicle (and how much time that wastes every week, month, year, decade,…), with a simple “plug and done” routine when you arrive home from work. This reality is possible for most people, but rapidly slipping away.
 This development is at the settlement stage with the Ontario Land Tribunal – has the installation of charging stations been included in the settlement? There is a major role for the provincial and municipal governments to play in this endeavour. At the provincial level, the building code should be immediately updated to require that all new residential constructions (i.e. single detached homes, apartments, and condominiums) have the capacity and “rough-in” connections to support Level-2 EV charging to 100% of parking spaces. This is a no-brainer. Every new apartment, condo and single detached home that is built without this equipment sets the stage for an expensive renovation, or community dispute somewhere down the line. Conversations with real-estate developers, combined with my own secondary research suggest that many new builds do not come with adequate EV infrastructure (if any) – and that the private sector cannot be relied upon to provide solutions. They will build to the minimum standard required, and shouldn’t be blamed for it: The standard needs to be higher.
 When Bunton’s Wharf was built electric cars were not part of the way people drove. Who will pay to put charging stations in these buildings. The Condo Corporation is going to have to take on that task. The province should go one step further and require that owners of existing apartment buildings and condominiums equip 100% of parking spaces with Level-2 charging capacity and energy management systems by 2035. Implementing this requirement might be aided with a standalone legislative tool. For condominiums, the government could offer to cover one quarter of renovation costs before 2025, one fifth before 2030 and none thereafter, with fines for non-compliance beginning in 2035. To demonstrate a commitment to equity, for apartments, co-ops, and community housing, the government could offer to cover half of renovations costs before 2025, one third before 2030 and one fifth before 2035.
Noncompliant landlords of these complexes (including municipalities, in the case of community housing) could be targeted with even more stringent fines after 2035. Without stronger direction, governance issues might delay apartment and condominium residents from benefitting from convenient charging infrastructure and prolong decisions to remain with gasoline vehicles.
Since municipalities have control over open-air parking spaces through zoning bylaws, their role should be to plan targeted public infrastructure that accommodates those without private options. This might include bylaws mandating all workplaces (existing and planned) have a small percentage of parking spaces equipped with Level-2 chargers for exclusive use by those without access to private parking.
Additional bylaws might require all shopping, grocery, and community centres have a small percentage of parking spaces equipped with Level-3 chargers. The percentage should be increased for those locations within a short radius (i.e. 2km) of highway exits to ease range anxiety of those making long distance trips. Promoting highway-proximate infrastructure in this manner would offer the added benefit of maximizing infrastructure utilization in periods of low travel, while offering minimal inconvenience to travelers.
Approaching charging infrastructure in this fashion has the upside of maximizing the convenience of private charging, accommodating travelers and those without private options, and minimizing the potential underutilization of widespread public charging infrastructure.
 Ontario has charging stations along the full length of the 401 – at some point every major community in the province will have public parking stations. Better restaurants and hotels will include them. By not actively coordinating charging infrastructure at the provincial-municipal level, purchasing an EV will bring increasing and unnecessary challenges to first-time home buyers and those living in apartments and condominiums. This includes a significant number of individuals in the young and old-age demographic. A “laissez-faire” approach also carries negative implications for meeting climate targets, and Ontario’s ability to sustain an innovative manufacturing sector.
Please consider submitting your opinion to the City of Burlington’s Electric Mobility Strategy survey by March 31, 2022: https://www.getinvolvedburlington.ca/electric-mobility-strategy
 Connor Fraser is a post graduate student at the University of Toronto enrolled in the dual Master of Global Affairs and Master of Business Administration program.
 By Pepper Parr
March 24th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
Getting any information about what takes place in a CLOSED session of Council is a little like squeezing that last little bit of toothpaste out of the tube.
You run your fingers along the sides and squeeze to get the toothpaste to the top of the tube and onto the tooth brush.
 City Solicitor Nancy Shea Nicol That was the image that came to mind as I listened to Nancy Shea Nicol, City Solicitor, as she explained to Council that she would have a report to them on what came out of the closes session on Tuesday.
Someone somewhere in city hall has decided that this going into CLOSED session on almost any matter had to come to an end – the public had a right to know what was taking up so much time in the legal department.
Nancy Shea Nicol is an old school lawyer – say nothing or at least as little as possible.
There are occasions when a CLOSED session is required for a property matter.
 Ward 4 Councillor Lisa Kearns – wants a more transparent approach to CLOSED sessions of Council Ward 2 Councillor Lisa Kearns wanted to know why the public could not at least have the address of the property that was being discussed.
There appear to be changes in the wind. It would really be nice if the Mayor made a statement explaining that a change was necessary and setting out what the public had a right to know what the business of the city was about.
The city is in the process of buying the old Bateman High School property.
The School Board has said they want to sell because they have no use for the space. They do however want to rent some of the space from the purchaser.
Brock University has been talking to the city about renting some of the space to set up a teacher training program.
The city wants to put some of the space to use as well; library and something for the seniors in the east end of the city.
These are all public organizations – why all the secrecy?
Old habits? It was just the way things were done?
A fresh wind appears to be blowing through the legal department.
About time.
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
March 22, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
Ontario’s fixed-date election law sets voting day as June 2, 2022, and the formal start of the campaign period as next May 4.
Burlington now has nominated candidates for the three mainline political parties.
 NDP candidate Andrew Drummond get a visit from Liberal candidate Mariam Manaa while she was doing her door to door thing. The New Democrats nominated Andrew Drummond, the Liberals actually made a contest of their nomination and chose Mariam Manaa as their candidate.
The Progressive Conservatives appointed Natalie Pierre as their candidate.
The Greens nominated Kyle Hutton.
There may be others.
While there is all kinds of political maneuvering taking place at the party leadership level, the fight at the ground level will become fierce starting May 4th.
Drummond is well known, he has run before and has acquitted himself quite well. Were he to be elected he would be a creditable legislator once he has learned the basics of being an MPP.
 Andrea Horwath on the campaign trail The problem with the Ontario New Democrats is their leader – Andrea Horwath isn’t seen as a leader; there isn’t all that much bench strength in the party – she would have difficulty forming a government and the even more difficulty governing.
Bob Rae who brought tonnes of credibility to the job of party leader had difficulty find the talent he needed to appoint solid members to his Cabinet.
Burlington does have a small but solid community of followers – enough to win? There was a real chance last time out – not sure that chance exists this time around,
Manaa has no experience in government but some knowledge of the way politicians serve their communities having worked as an intern with two federal MP’s.
No one is sure just where her support came from. If the Muslim community is large enough she could take the seat.; what is not clear is just how many Muslim’s in the riding there are. The most recent Stats Canada data is not yet available. The Muslim community will vote for their candidate.
The team teaching Mariam how to campaign is solid. If she has the capacity to develop into a credible candidate she could surprise a lot of people.
 Aldershot resident Greg Woodruff, right, talking to Stephen Del Duca, provincial Liberal party leader, while he was in Burlington as the then Minister of Transport for the province. The Liberals have not been blessed with a gifted party leader. Steve Del Duca comes across as flailing about looking for an issue that he can use to get the foothold he desperately needs. Not having a seat in the Legislature doesn’t help. .
The Progressive Conservatives in Burlington have struggled to develop really solid candidates. Cam Jackson served as the MPP for years. One would be challenged to point to anything significant he achieved while in office.
Jane McKenna was nominated at a meeting where she was the only candidate; zip in the way of political experience and a one of the thinnest public profiles ever seen for a person running for public office. She was fortunate in having some very savvy political players guiding and directing her. It was one of Keith Strong’s better initiatives.
There has always been something suspect with PC nomination meetings.
McKenna decided there was an even greener pasture for her at the Regional level and she announced she would not run again as the MPP fr Burlington.
There was no immediate identifiable replacement candidate; we would get notes from people asking if we knew who the PC candidate was going to be.
 Natalie Pierre, PC appointed candidate for Burlington It is not known yet how, when or where the appointed candidate Natalie Pierre was found.
No experience other than having lived in Burlington for 30 years.
The PC party made the appointment on March 4th and informed the public on We were copied on an email in which McKenna appeared to be taking all the credit for finding Pierre.
Since that announcement – not a word.
Burlington has solid deep Conservative roots. As a society it tends to be conservative.
The federal candidate the Conservatives put forward was wrapped in a bubble, said next to nothing and was the poster girl for the gun club lobby.
The challenge for every political party and its candidate is to create profile – get the candidate out in front of people.
To date we have seen nothing on Natalie Pierre.
Are the PC’s going to rely on the strength thay have always has in Burlington. A sort of “she is one of us – vote for her” campaign?
 Doug Ford casting a ballot The problem the PC’s have is with their leader. He has not exactly proven to be a rock star for the way he handled the pandemic; Ontario has yet to formalize an agreement with the federal government on the new child care program.
It is hard to fathom the PC position on climate change but very easy to grasp what they want to do in terms of building new roads rather that focus on and look for different ways to move people from place to place.
The Bradford Bypass and the Hwy 413 extension are really not needed.
Doug Ford has a small business mentality – he genuinely feels the pain of the small business person who had to close their doors during the lock-downs,
 Ford understand the small business community – he genuinely cares about the problems they have had to face. He is prepared to put at risk the health and welfare on students who would be well served with a masking policy for another two weeks until we learn what WORD are going to be as a result of the Spring Break.
What is proving to be very interesting is the number of parents who have decided they will stay with a masking protocol for the immediate future and wait for new virus infection results.
Doug Ford wants to hope that the reports are minimal and that we may have cleared the mist recent wave. Let us hope as well that the numbers that do exists don’t get fudged.
 Kyle Hutton Green Part candidate What the province needs at this point in its growth is a well thought out vision – something a bit more than Doug Ford’s Open for Business position.
Burlington now has three candidates; two who are credible – the third too unknown at this point to be able to make a comment.
The Greens have a candidate – thin on real experience but quite a bite of on the ground electing candidates which he learned while working to get Karina Gould elected.
There are tough choices to be made. A minority Progressive Conservative government would serve the province best,
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 Mary Hill
March 20th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
Mary Hill, a person we have not succeeded in satisfactorily identifying, took exception to our decision to restrict her commenting privileges in the Gazette because it looked like she was commenting using two different names. She asked if she could write, in a respectful manner, a comment to what you today published stating a different point of view to yours. The following is what she wrote:
The Gazette is in the process of putting in place a set of rules tat should prevent this type of thing from happening in the future.
“Hello, I am Mary Hill. I am not Margaret Riley. Margaret (Maggie) is my life partner. Not that that is anyone’s business. Though the Gazette seems to have made it everyone’s business.
I am writing this in response to the two Gazette pieces that have put Maggie and me through the wringer
Contrary to the thoughts of the Gazette’s editor/publisher, and I am sure some of its readers, Mary and Maggie are not one and the same.
Having straightened that out I must ask what would it matter if Mary and Maggie were indeed just one individual using two different identities to make comments in the Gazette? I don’t understand what the problem would be.
The editor/publisher is correct. Other publications do require authentication of who you are, as do many on-line retailers when one wishes to change account settings for example. Authentication is generally achieved by one of two methods. 1. via sending an email to the account holder’s designated email address. That email may either have an “authenticate” button or provide a code to be entered on the application. 2. via a need for the user to pick out of a line up of six pictures all those pictures that have a common feature.
Why do they require the authentication? In the email check cases it is a security check to ensure the account provider is indeed dealing with the account holder. The picture line up method is there to ensure the site is dealing with a warm bodied human and not a bot.
In neither circumstance does the account provider seek to confirm the identity being used is the actual legal identity of the account holder. Even providers like OLG allow for alternative identities to be used.
 So why is that? The simple answer is to allow the account holder to maintain their complete privacy. What is the difference in placing a bet with OLG, or buying product from Amazon, or making a comment to the Burlington Gazette as either Steve Smith or James Jones. There is no difference.
The editor/publisher has said in his article he “needs to know” who the individual actually is. What’s the individual’s legal name, phone number etc. I ask the editor/publisher to explain here to the Gazette’s readers just why he needs that information? Does it have a bearing upon the validity of the comment submitted? Is there a legal requirement? I think neither. The Gazette’s editor/publisher can contact the commentator by email to assure himself the person is a real human and not a bot.
Even using my real name of Mary Hill exposes me to trolling, harassment and unwanted attention. I have heard stories of Gazette commentators not only getting hate mail through their email but also through the Canada Post mail. How does someone get a personal address? Generally it’s quite easy if one has a land line phone. Just go to the 411 look up website, put in the name and city, and bingo addresses pop up. An example:- an advocate for real names only appears to be Cathy Lanc, who commented righteously on both Gazette articles. Cathy I believe know where you live and your phone number. Does that concern you? Not that I would, but it would be easy to troll you. Maggie and I do not publish our phone numbers or our address in any “phone book”.
There are examples galore where an employee, prospective employee has, in my view unfairly, lost their job due to posting material on-line, sometimes years previously, that sat counter to how their employer saw the world. Using a pseudonym eliminates that concern.
As a result of the Gazette’s original article, both Maggie and I have had our personal lives made way more public than we would have liked. It is now obvious that we share more than an internet connection. Our status was our private concern. The Gazette has made it quite public. I question has the Gazette overstepped PIPIDA by publishing our names, email addresses and IP address without our consent. I have no desire to rake the Gazette over the coals, but it just shows how one’s identity and privacy can be easily exposed and potentially cause other issues. It shows how important it is to protect that personal information.
Our social environment is so completely different today from what it was just a few years ago. In the old days you write a letter to the editor of the G&M. It got published. But once hard copy newsprint in which it apperaed had been tossed into the garbage, it to all intents and purposes was gone from public scrutiny. Now, it is on the web forever. Even if you have a change of heart you cannot erase it.
So those are my views. But I think what is more important than my views is for the editor/publisher to explain or justify just why “he needs to know” the personal identity of a commentator.
- What benefit does the Gazette or its readers get by the editor/publisher knowing the commentator is Jim Smith and not John Smith or James Jones as submitted with the comment? Answer, absolutely none.
- Why does the editor/publisher find the use of a nomme de plume or pseudonym, a practice used extensively in literary and journalistic realms for donkey’s years, to cause him an issue in this day and age. Answer, I have no idea.
All the editor/publisher has said is
“I still do not know if Mary is not the same as Maggie; just saying they are is not enough. I need to KNOW that they are.”
Why is it not enough?
Why does he need to know?
What is his justification for that need?
He does not say.
I doubt he will. Why do I doubt that. Simple. Because there is absolutely no justification he can give.
Editor/publisher please provide your reasoning. Just saying you need it does not make it a valid need.
Editor/Publisher, please reinstate Maggie’s and my commenting privileges.”
Will you publish it?
 By Pepper Parr
March 17th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
Earlier this month I made the decision to hold comments sent to us from a specific Internet Protocol address that was being used by two different names.
We suspected the two names wwere being used by the same person.
 Our comments section is populated with boisterous, well informed people who comment at length. Frequently there is an exchange of views that goes on for a week or two.
We also get offensive, even libelous comments which we delete. We have, on a few occasions, taken away the opportunity to comment.
Many online publications that have a comment section ensure that they have identified the writer and are satisfied they are real people.
I am always dismayed when a writer does not have the courage of their convictions and chooses to use a phony name.
Many of the comments made are from people who strongly support a particular viewpoint; we welcome those.
Some commentators take us to task for an article they feel was unfair or biased, we welcome those as well.
The general rule is: know your client – it applies to almost everything. People who comment in the Gazette are not clients but we feel it is important that we know who they are – our concern is not with what they wish to say.
 I don’t know Maggie or Mary. One of them claims that there are a number of people writing under a nom de plumes – that may be true – we just don’t have the resources to track down every person who comments nor is it our objective.
We did on one occasion allow a person to identify as anonymous. The person was commenting on a position the City Manager at the time had taken on how he would support his Staff during a very contentious municipal election.
The writer took exception with the City Manager’s position because the writer held a very senior position in another level of government, and was not authorized to speak for that level of government: the person could not use their own name.
Senior bureaucrats are discouraged from taking public positions.
In one comment made by Mary an adjective was used that we didn’t see as offensive. The person being referred to saw it differently. They claimed it was a hate comment and wanted a criminal investigation.
The writer of the adjective apologized and we saw the matter as closed.
We however are still in the position of not knowing who the writers are. We did reach out to talk to them – we do that frequently with names we are not certain are legitimate. Mary did not take up the chance for a discussion
It got messy.
In the past I have come close to closing down the comments section. While I think it is critically important, vital even, that people have a place where they can say what they think and where their peers can respond, monitoring the comments is a significant draw on our limited resources.
There are readers who ask: “Does this really matter? Loads of blogs on social media are not the real names of the authors.”
 True enough, but the Gazette is not a blog; it is a credentialed on line newspaper that has been publishing for more than ten years.
A reader added: “Younger readers and bloggers often use pseudonyms, it’s no big deal. People are just having their say. Many actors, rappers and people with maiden names even though they are married, use different names and surnames.
“These women may be in some sort of relationship. There is also Anne and David Marsden, two people under one name. How do you know who it is commenting on the article, is it Anne or David? Now there is a comment on here just from David. Do David and Anne have the same IP address? If so, how can they be allowed to use the same IP address?”
The difference is that we know that David Marsden is real and we know that Anne Marsden is real.
“This could be an identical situation” said the writer, “some people have separate email addresses and some use a joint address.
“Lives are changing, we should all try to change or at least acknowledge changes. “… a good editor means keeping up with the changing times. I’m sure as I get older I may find it more difficult, too.”
I still do not know if Mary is not the same as Maggie; just saying they are is not enough. I need to KNOW that they are.
There is no discrimination here. Convince me that you are who you say you are and I am a happy camper.
I publish the Gazette, pay for it out of my pocket, and I am responsible for the content.
I would hope that those who choose to comment be responsible enough to properly identify themselves.
By Peggy Russell
March 13th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
Public School Board Trustees in the Province of Ontario have less than a week to make a very big decision regarding their responsibility to the students and staff and, by extension, the welfare of their communities, with the responsibility they were charged with when elected.
 Peggy Russell Do they follow the direction of the Premier of this Province or do they follow the advice of the experts represented through the Ontario Children’s Health Coalition’s Statement of March 9, 2022?
The Ontario Children’s Health Coalition states: “Masks remain an important layer of protection as the pandemic continues and may be needed in communities with low vaccination rates and where there is a surge in cases. Masks also protect those most vulnerable, including high-risk, immunocompromised and fragile children.”
Trustees in the Province of Ontario have a definitive Role in which, “they must weigh what is in the best interests of the whole education system” which they are duly elected to represent.
This will be the true test of elected Trustees relevancy; there is no hedging around this one.
Either they listen to the experts from the Ontario Children’s Health Coalition or, if they do not, they should be prepared for the potential legal ramifications, not just as a Board, but as individuals who could be named in Legal Actions for not following the advice of the experts from the Ontario Children’s Health Coalition.
Currently Trustees have been advised that legally, they must abide by Public Health Orders. My question is: Are those Orders in the best interest of our collective society or that of special interest groups and some sectors of industry?
Then there is the moral obligation to the children, families/guardians, of the students they serve: to ensure that each and every student, no matter their health status, is provided the same opportunity to learn in a safe classroom environment.
Do Trustees understand that this indeed is their Alamo?
Either they listen to the experts from the Ontario Children’s Health Coalition and do what is right or they follow a “lame duck” Premier who is seeking re-election and the Orders of Ontario Public Health Units who serve at the pleasure of the Premier and their government. Which will it be?
Trustees in Ontario must be prepared to legally challenge the Province, Ministry of Education and, where applicable, Ontario Public Health Units. Trustees need to understand what is truly at stake at this moment or they risk becoming irrelevant.
Peggy Russell is a past Vice-Chair of the Halton District School Board. and was a Director of the Ontario Public School Board Association for eight years.
 By Pepper Parr
March 12th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
Who do we hear from when a comment is made?
We put our name on everything we write – no fake names and we expect people who comment to do the same thing.
We recently came across a situation where there were two names, often saying basically the same thing.
We did reach out to talk to one of them, Mary Hill, to get some clarification. We did ask for a phone number, didn’t get one but the answers she gave us to the questions we asked were satisfactory.
 Using your real name is usually a good idea. Then we noticed this:
Maggie Riley
margaret.riley070272@gmail.com
Mary Hill
maryhill25091962@gmail.com
What’s your problem? you might ask. When all the data we have is available we have the following:
Maggie Riley
margaret.riley070272@gmail.com
70.49.45.202
Mary Hill
maryhill25091962@gmail.com
70.49.45.202
The IP (Internet Protocol) addresses are the same – Maggie Riley and Mary Hill would appear to be the same person.
That’s not the way the game is played.
We will no longer publish comments from either name until there is clarification as to just who is the author of the comments.
 By Connor Fraser
March 11th,, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that how we interact with the internet, and social media in particular, is disastrous from a health perspective.
Firstly, several studies have noted the link between social media use and depression. A 2018 study released in the Journal of Cyberpsychology, Behaviour and Social Networking demonstrated that every one-point increase in passive social-media use was associated with a 33% increase in depressive symptoms.
 Secondly, many have identified links between social media use and reduced memory and attention. Research published by the Gerontological Society of America reported that “on days when social media use was high, individuals reported more memory failures” and furthermore that “higher previous-day social media-use was associated with more memory failures on the subsequent day.” The researchers hypothesize that a key mechanism for memory failures is attentional disengagement, whereby “individuals using social media are less engaged in real-world activities…and may not encode these events and experiences as deeply as they would otherwise.”
Late in 2021, Facebook made headlines by announcing it would re-brand itself as ‘Meta’ signalling CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s intention to play a key role in developing the ‘Metaverse’: The next generation of the internet, enabled by technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Instead of clicking on webpages and newsfeeds, users will eventually navigate a digital world similar to the physical world, complete with their own avatars, and digital property such as clothing and land.
Imagine a world where a significant number of people live within a tightly controlled digital experience, rarely going outside or interacting with their neighbours. Companies such as Meta and Microsoft are betting big on people spending a lifetime online. But regardless of how scary this potential future looks like, many (particularly young people) are already living in a pseudo-metaverse.
For example, a 2019 article reported that children under age 14 spent nearly twice as long with their tech devices per day as they do with their families. These transformations are having profound impacts on our memories, and ability to pay attention and focus – which has serious implications for the future productivity of our economy, democracy and ability to confront life’s challenges. I argue that social media is already causing serious harms to society – and should be carefully regulated if we hope to prevent these harms and stop the ‘Metaverse’ from magnifying them to a terrifying level.
Consider that an incredible amount of resources have been dedicated towards designing social media and metaverse technologies to be maximally addictive. Former engineers at Google and Meta admit that their apps exploit the same psychological susceptibilities that makes gambling so compulsive, such as variable rewards. Faced to confront the latest techniques in psychology and advanced machine-learning algorithms, it’s no wonder why many find themselves continually attached to their phones – it’s not your fault!
Neither is it uniquely the fault of social media companies, who to my knowledge have not been accused of breaking government laws and regulations in any major way. The role of the firm has always been to generate profits for shareholders – and implicitly value for their customers. Contrastingly, it is the role of the government to identify activities that generate negative externalities and positive externalities – and regulate those activities which produce negative externalities (such as pollution) and fund those activities which produce positive externalities (such as public education).
The current relationship with social media is such that people receive an onslaught of messages from numerous platforms and numerous devices, and find themselves very quickly “toggling” between tasks, unable to consistently focus on any one task for greater than 3 minutes, on average. This toggling is rapidly eroding the capacity for long-term, strategic focus – precisely the tools that people need to set goals and achieve anything meaningful in life.
 It is worth noting that social media is not entirely bad, and there are positive aspects to these technologies. For example, in a report commissioned by PEW research, many teens reported that access to social media played an important role in overcoming difficult life experiences. These benefits were magnified for vulnerable populations, such as youth from households with annual incomes less than $30,000 – suggesting that social media offered critical support group that wouldn’t have otherwise been available or affordable.
Moreover, the majority of teens responded that social media enables them to spend time with their friends on a daily basis, through free messaging and video chatting features. During the pandemic, these services have undeniably played an outsized role in enabling people to remain in touch while in-person opportunities were limited. Additionally, some have argued that powerful social media algorithms provide a great service by connecting people with products that are optimally tailored to their needs. To cite one example, last year I received a Spotify advertisement for the language program “Learn French by Podcast” which I subsequently subscribed to and got a huge amount of value from.
While it is clear that social media has benefits to offer when used appropriately, I think it is important to recognize that certain use patterns can be incredibly destructive – especially when people turn to aimless scrolling and passive searching for instant validation. To prevent harms from further accumulating amongst young people, and also to prevent these harms from accelerating as the metaverse becomes more potent, the government must develop an action plan to leave people in control of their relationship with social media.
 Any action plan should focus on increasing healthy behaviour and preventing harmful behaviour. One strategy might include imposing regulations on tech giants that make it mandatory for all apps to periodically (i.e. once per month) provide users with a “time-spent” report, remind them about healthy-use habits, and remind them of in-app features that exist to turn-off notifications and block content. Another strategy might include devoting greater government resources to educate citizens about the circumstances under which social media use is harmful. Integrating compulsory modules into the elementary and high-school curriculum about healthy social media practices would be a good start.
Two final points to add. In order to proceed with meaningful action, more academic research of much greater rigour, needs to be conducted. The study cited above from the Journal of Cyberpsychology, Behaviour and Social Networking made use of an online survey where participants answered subjective questions about their experience with social media and any subsequent feelings of depression. This is hardly sufficient evidence, nor the type of decisive evidence I would want to have in my arsenal to push back against big tech. The calibre of academic scholarship in this field needs to improve dramatically in order to provide a clear rational for action that will find sustainable support amongst the majority of citizens.
Finally, I wonder if there is an appetite to explore different business models. One of my professors at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, Daniel Breznitz, once commented that “if you’re not paying for a service, you’re a product, not the customer.” In the world of Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, users pay no subscription fees and should therefore think of themselves as “products”.
In order to generate revenues, these business models must create value for their actual customers (i.e. advertisers) by keeping us online for as long as possible. Altering the model by introducing a subscription fee could allow companies to generate value for users as their primary customers, and perhaps abandon the need to aggressively target us with manipulative techniques.
Regardless of what action the government decides to take, this file requires some movement, and I’m shocked that Canadians have received limited leadership from elected officials until now. With continued complacency we are sleepwalking into a future health and economic crisis of titanic proportions.
Born in Hamilton, raised in Aldershot, Connor Fraser attended Waterdown Montessori School, Glenview Public School, Burlington Christian Academy and Aldershot High School. He earned a BASc. in Engineering Science and a major in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto. He then worked as a member of the technology development team at Microchip Corporation (North San Jose, California) where he contributed to the design of computer memory for FPGA chips.
Connor volunteered for the U of T Human Powered Vehicles Design Team as a machinist and led the design of a rollover detection system for high-speed tricycles. During the summer of 2013, 2015 and 2017, Connor lived in Quebec thanks to support from the YMCA Student Work Summer Exchange, and the Explore Program & is decently proficient in spoken French.
He is currently enrolled in the dual Master of Global Affairs and Master of Business Administration program and is concurrently a CFA Level 2 candidate. He is a Senior Producer with “Beyond the Headlines”, a weekly public affairs radio show that airs on CIUT 89.5FM
By Staff
March10th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
When Metrolinx advised the Town of Oakville and the city of Burlington that they would not be able to proceed with the planned construction of grade separations – they surely didn’t think that was going to be the end of it.
Burlington ward 5 Councillor took the lead on this and, working with Oakville council member issued a statement making it clear that a delay was not on for their communities.
The Town of Oakville and City of Burlington received updates from Metrolinx (the Province’s Agency for coordinating and integration transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area) on the Burloak and Kerr Street Grade Separations.
 Life today at the Burloak crossing.
 This was the promise – when the price ballooned Metrolinx wanted to back out. The local municipal Councillors aren’t on for that decision. Metrolinx indicated it could no longer meet its commitment to the costs agreed to by all parties involved for both the Burloak and Kerr Separations and that the Kerr Street underpass would be deferred with no future timeline. ” These changes to our agreements with the Provincial agency are unacceptable to us.”
 Ward 5 Councillor Paul Sharman – isn’t prepared to accept the Metrolinx decision. Grade separations not only ease congestion, they are pivotal to the health and safety of our community for vehicles and pedestrians and ensure rail transportation moves unimpeded across the Lakeshore West Line. As representatives in areas directly impacted by these railway crossings, we hear daily about delays, safety issues and concerns from our residents. We are determined to ensure the Province and Metrolinx fulfill their commitments to the residents in our neighbourhoods and the Halton community at large.
The Metrolinx LAkeshore West line is schedule to offer 15 minute service – vehicles will never get to cross the tracks under those conditions.
“We are calling on all Halton MPPs to work to ensure the government’s commitments to the construction of both grade separations move forward and that they do so immediately and at the costs agreed to with the Municipalities in 2018. Now is not the time to put critical infrastructure on the back burner. With the Province mandating growth throughout our communities, we in good conscious cannot continue to fulfill the Province’s demands of added population without safety being put firs.” said Sharman
“Movement throughout our Region relies on critically integrated corridors and the infrastructure to move those vehicles, pedestrians and transit safely and quickly. This is more than a step backwards; the Government has slammed the car in reverse. We are calling on all residents who have a stake in this infrastructure getting built to contact your MPP and let them know that these delays, deferrals and cost overruns are unacceptable.”
Provincial members:
Stephen Crawford (Oakville) – stephen.crawford@pc.ola.org
Parm Gill (Milton) – parm.gill@pc.ola.org
Jane McKenna (Burlington) – jane.mckenna@pc.ola.org
Effie Triantafilopoulos (Oakville North-Burlington) – effie.triantafilopoulos@pc.ola.org
Signed:
Sean O’Meara Beth Robertson
Regional & Town Councillor Ward 1 Town Councillor Ward 1
Cathy Duddeck Ray Chisholm
Regional & Town Councillor Ward 2 Town Councillor Ward 2
Paul Sharman
City of Burlington Council Ward 5
There is an interesting omission: Burlington’s Mayor Marianne Meed Ward is not a signatore to the statement. She was all over television reports in the decision
By Staff
March 7th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
On March 3 a city Standing Committee approved a report that waived permit fees in the amount of $33,800. for improved internet services for north Burlington.
 This is basically how accessible internet access will be. The improved service in north Burlington is a very important need to those residents. These improvements are being funded by the federal and provincial governments. They did not request municipal assistance or funding.
A Burlington resident has a problem with the decision pointing out that on January 25 2022 the city held an information session for this work. I attended.
The two contractors (Bell Canada and Internet Access Solutions) have not formally requested any financial assistance from the city. The contractors have been working to obtain permits from the City, Region, and Conservation Halton.
 Fibre optic cable is being laid all over north Burlington giving the residents much needed internet access. A Burlington resident who asks not to be identified thinks “the Mayor/council appear to want some credit for the improved internet access. Must be an election year.”
“The $33,800 given away is monies that we the taxpayer will have to make up in the 2023 current budget from tax dollars. ( Sounds like Rob Ford and the license plates) This expenditure should have been accounted for in the 2022 current budget if council wanted to participate.
“Sounds like bonusing to me.
“Do not blame the contractors for…. getting something for nothing.”
The question here is: Why are the taxpayers waiving fees that would have been paid by Bell Canada and Internet Access Solutions, the two companies installing hi-speed broadband service in rural Burlington.
By Joan Little
March 4th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
Walter Mulkewich , former mayor of Burlington, died Monday, leaving our city with a big hole in its heart.
I first met Walter around 1970. I knew him by reputation – all good. He was known as a solid individual, forward thinking, and well educated – a former Oakville high school teacher of history and geography, and later a business man. He had been active in the community and his church, taking on the tough jobs, and getting them done. He’d also run for the NDP, faring very respectably in Tory blue Burlington.
Much credit goes to his late wife, Bev, whom he met at the age of 16, They were childhood sweethearts who became soul mates, both with strong character, both exceedingly smart and capable – adventurous, even. Their three daughters – Sharie, Jane and Miriam were close knit, and each has excelled in her world.
They loved traveling, the outdoors, and adventurous trips. That started early. Bev and Walter had talked about seeing northen areas, and in 1968 he accepted a one-year teaching assignment in Inuvik, in the Arctic.
When I was elected in Ward 2 in 1973, I didn’t know them, but knew of them. A year or two later, I met Walter, was impressed, and urged him to run for council, but suspect he’d already thought of it. In those days it was a part-time job. I think the salary was $5,200 a year, plus about the same amount extra if you sought the city/regional seat – hardly a big money-maker!
In 1976, he won in Ward 1, defeating an incumbent. He had a commanding, yet gentle presence, and was a great orator, always in the vanguard of thinking. In those pre-internet days nomination day was exciting. City staff used to mount easels in the Brant Street City Hall window, and post and update candidate lists. Traditionally candidates gathered there at 4:00 to see who was running, and where (because some registered at the last minute). We two couples sometimes stayed downtown for a convivial dinner afterwards.
My husband Lloyd Allingham died suddenly in 1978, and Walter was the first colleague on our doorstep. I remarried in 1981, and the couples friendship resumed. After I retired from council in 1988, Walter frequently dropped in on his way home from City Hall.
 Walter Mulkewich with Stephen Lewis – both gifted orators. There’s a story connected with his 1985 re-election. Local Tories persuaded George Harrington to run against him. (George was Mayor when I was elected, but defeated in 1976 by Burlington’s first woman mayor, Mary Munro). You have to know the city’s culture of that time – predominately Tory, predominately male. But Walter surprised all, retaining his seat with 78 per cent of the vote! The ‘Old Boys’ network was losing ground.
In 1991 Roly Bird announced that he wouldn’t seek re-election. Walter considered Roly a friend, and wouldn’t run against him, but this changed things. Walter stopped by to say he was contemplating running for Mayor. Would we help? We both offered to do anything needed.
He asked me to be campaign manager. I told him I lacked real campaign experience, so was hesitant. (I’d only run two campaigns in my 15 years, the rest were acclamations). He said he’d guide me, and assembled a crackerjack team, garnering support far and wide. Working with so many talented people with the same mission was stimulating. When asked today what I think my biggest contribution to the city was, it was helping elect the city’s best mayor!
Bev was his biggest supporter, and it was a joy to watch them in those nail-biting days – one day optimistic, the next worried. Two noteworthy opponents – one a councillor – were both Conservatives in Tory Burlington, but Walter won. His campaign was based on two principles: environmental protection and fiscal accountability. As expected, his opponents used the “NDP socialist” strategy, but by then he’d been on council 15 years, and proven his mettle.
Statesmanlike, and straight spoken, but with a common touch, he was very popular, earned respect, and was always the affable gentleman. Non partisan, he was admired by colleagues and staff, many of whom became lasting friends. He established the first seniors’ advisory committee.
Very thoughtful, he researched issues and new ideas thoroughly. When he met with developers, there was always a staff member present.
Why did he want the mayor’s job? Garbage! Halton Region had been looking for a landfill site for years – a very costly exercise that required looking at the entire region, then eliminating areas for different factors, like transportation, location, water table, agricultural capability, etc.
Regional staff finally recommended a preferred site – Site A on North Service Road, with Site F (on Tremaine Road in Milton) the runner-up.
The Burlington contingent on Regional council was able to convince a majority of colleagues to support them. This would go to a hearing. If we lost, we’d be back to square one, with no site.
Meantime Halton’s garbage was being shipped to New York State. How long would that last? For the minor cost difference, better to take both sites to the hearing.
Walter had led an environmental committee examining issues on Site A, and was convinced it posed more environmental problems than Site F. He was proven right. Site F (the current site) was found to be superior.
He won reelection as mayor handily in 1994, but in 1997 dropped by with bad news. He’d been diagnosed with Leukemia, and advised not to run. And things worsened. Bev was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and deteriorated quickly until her untimely death in 1998, which devastated him.
In 2015 he wrote an autobiographical book, primarily for family. It was never available publicly, so I treasure my copy. It begins when his parents emigrated from Byelorussia, and farmed near Waterford. He was born in 1940, met Bev in 1956, and began their life journeys.
His girls held a 75th birthday party for him. By then my husband had died and I was delighted that former councillor Linda Pugsley, her husband Stewart and I were invited – the only ‘political’ guests. Linda, Walter and I were part of a small group who, until Covid, met monthly for lunch to discuss current affairs.
Walter sold their lovely Aldershot home last year, moved to a retirement home, and I saw a change in him. This is a huge loss for the city. Would-be candidates will miss him too, because many, many sought his advice on how to be an effective candidate and councillor. While I’ve lost a good friend, Burlington has lost a great ambassador.
The funeral is scheduled, (by invitation only because of Covid) on Monday at 10:00, with visitation Sunday. Arrangements are by Smith’s Funeral Home on Brant Street.
By Pepper Parr
March 2, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
Three months from now we will be marking our ballots and choosing who we want to lead us in Ontario going forward.
 The Ford government is sitting at Queen’s Park passing legislation. Yesterday we learned that there was a section in a piece of legislation that forgave a significant fine the Premier was required to pay for not getting a budget before the public by a specific date.
The government has delayed publishing the budget which was due March 31st. The new date is sometime in late April
We learn today that the government announced an advertising program that will focus on how well the economy is doing.
While important, critically important the province is slowly coming out of pandemic driven restrictions that has ticket sales of Raptors games at the Scotiabank Arena close to sold out.
People need some relief.
World news is horrific; we are in the middle of something that doesn’t impact on most of us – but the news we read about what is happening in Ukraine is going to impact every one of us in the very near future.
 Premier Ford in the Legislature Inflation is beginning to play havoc on what happens to us daily. Have you been to the supermarket; have you looked at the price of a good steak ?
Supply chain issues are still not resolved
With all this going on we have a provincial government shuffling the cards and dealing themselves a stronger hand.
Keep an eye on the rascals.
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
March 2, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
We bid our Contributing Editor and long-time columnist Ray Rivers adieu and hope that he travels well.
Ray Rivers has been with the Gazette for at least eight years during which time he wrote an opinion column from a small L liberal perspective. He developed a following that kept him one his toes. He also developed within the community, a better understanding on just what an opinion piece is. There are some who still resent some of the stand Ray took.
 Ray Rivers – who won the best that Trump would win`. I’ve been buying him good Scotch ever since. It was my pleasure to stand behind him and support him every step he took.
He made a point of providing background links to support the positions he had taken.
In the years I have worked with Ray he became a friend, a colleague – someone who made my life bigger than it was before I met him at an event and knew before he knew that he would make a fine columnist.
We will hear from Ray again – right now he takes a break as he does his best to cope with the situation in Ukraine. Ray covered a Canadian Army training camp while he was in Ukraine and delivered a couple of hundred Canadian flag lapel pins made a number of friends as well. Their safety is now top of mind for him.
Ray cannot be replaced; his time with us taught our readers that there is a place for opinions in a local on-line newspaper.
which brought me to Connor Fraser, a young man I met
A number of years ago I met Connor Fraser just before he left for the University of Toronto. I fully expected the young man to do very well.
Set out below is some detail on just how well he has done.
Connor will write a column once a month, he wanted to be more frequent but it takes time to get into the habit of writing regularly – so once a week for now.
His first column will be on social media.
Connor was born in Hamilton in 1997, 1997 is a long-time resident of Aldershot. He attended Waterdown Montessori School, Glenview Public School, Burlington Christian Academy and Aldershot High School, graduating in 2015. Passionate about the issues facing Burlington, Connor has volunteered for several local organizations and advocated to municipal leaders on building transit oriented, walkable communities. His career goal is to help Burlington – and Canada – navigate the challenges of transitioning towards a just and inclusive low-energy economy.
 Connor Fraser In 2020, Connor completed undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto, with a BASc. in Engineering Science and a major in Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Between 2018 and 2019, he worked as a member of the technology development team at Microchip Corporation (North San Jose, California) where he contributed to the design of computer memory for FPGA chips. While pursuing engineering studies, Connor volunteered for the U of T Human Powered Vehicles Design Team as a machinist and led the design of a rollover detection system for high-speed tricycles. During the summer of 2013, 2015 and 2017, Connor lived in Quebec thanks to support from the YMCA Student Work Summer Exchange, and the Explore Program and is decently proficient in spoken French.
Connor has returned to U of T to enrol in the dual Master of Global Affairs and Master of Business Administration program and is concurrently a Certified Financial Analyst Level 2 candidate.
He is a Senior Producer with “Beyond the Headlines”, a weekly public affairs radio show that airs on CIUT 89.5FM every Monday (October – April) between 11am and 12pm. CJUT is the student run radio station at the University of Toronto.
Connor describes himself as an integrative thinker who enjoys observing parallelisms within and between various subjects such as science & engineering, finance, psychology and international relations. In his free time, Connor enjoys throwing boomerangs, playing tennis, and hanging out with his amazing sister.
You’re going to like this guy.
By Pepper Parr
February 27th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
Some facts:
Municipal election results for Mayor of Burlington
Rick Goldring won with 21,797 votes. Goldring defeated Cam Jackson and Marianne Meed Ward ran and as a Councillor and won in ward 2. Anne Marsden was not a candidate in the 2010 election.
In 2014 Rick Goldring ran for re-election and won with 23,360 votes.
 Anne Marsden delegating at Burlington city council with her husband David Anne Marsden ran and got 3,043 votes.
In 2018 Marianne Meed Ward ran for Mayor and defeated Rick Goldring.
Meed Ward – 23,360 votes
Goldring – 16,781 votes
Anne Marsden ran against Gary Carr for Regional Chair
Gary Carr – 79,775 votes
Anne Marsden – 41,136 votes
The data above is all a matter of public record on either the city of Burlington web site or the Region of Halton web site.
On February 24th, Anne Marsden released the information set out below.
Marsden does not provide dates for the votes she lists. The amounts spent are a matter of public record.
The Goldring data is for the 2018 municipal election as is the data for Meed Ward.
The Marsden number represent the number of votes she got from the voters of Burlington who chose her as Regional Chair in 2018.
The data Marsden provides appears to be intended to convince people that Marsden is a credible candidate and can pull in a lot of votes without spending very much money.
We believe the numbers are misleading and were intended to mislead.
Anne Marsden has positioned herself as a person who hews to the truth and argues vociferously that she has the facts and that she is right.
She has on occasion done a good job of digging out facts – especially with the C. difficile outbreak at the Joseph Brant Hospital in 2009.
The virus overran the hospital from May 2006 to December 2007- the information was not released until 2009.
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 17th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
Yesterday Premier Doug Ford said: he’s “eager to get these mandates moving.”
 It has always been about business for Doug Ford. “I hate as a government telling anyone what to do. We’ve just got to get moving forward and get out of this and protect the jobs,” Mr. Ford said at a manufacturing announcement in Hamilton.
“The world’s done with it, so let’s just move forward.”
The government intends to fully lift capacity limits on businesses and social gatherings on March 1. Its vaccine-certificate policy – which requires certain businesses only admit vaccinated patrons – is set to end the same day.
Mr. Ford said Tuesday that he was “never sold” on the proof-of-vaccination policy, but that he introduced it on the advice of the province’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Kieran Moore.
 “Dr. Moore’s phenomenal, but you know something, he’s reasonable, too. He’s reasonable, he gets it, he understands the economy,” Mr. Ford said. “Thank God, on March 1, we’re moving forward out of this … I just can’t wait.”
And there you have a Premier doing a Class A hissy fit in public. The 1500 plus new infections Ontario is experiencing each day is a clear sign that we are not “done with it” yet.
 Apparently his heart was never in the fight to conquer. The comments made by the Premier are so irresponsible. He has never understood that it really isn’t all about jobs – it is about the health of the people he serves. The thousands of deaths recorded so far are a testament on just how serious this has been.
There is hope however, early in June the people of the province can decide with their votes if they are done with Doug Ford.
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 2nd, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
City staff and Councilors are getting prepared for the fall municipal election.
Two items on the council agenda today are reviewing the election sign by-law and a Staff Direction for the City \Manager to include in a March report a review of the city’s closed session meeting policies and procedures and report back on options and recommendations to ensure the development of updated best practices.
 How does on prevent this kind of clutter? You don’t – they are a foundational part of the democratic process. Let’s take the election signs issue. Several members of Council would ban election signs completely; they already have the name recognition they need.
For those looking for a way to gain some name recognition signs on lawns are critical.
It will be interesting to see how Council reacts to what is put on the table.
As for Closed sessions of council there is nothing but shame for this Council; they have held more closed sessions in this term that in any other in the past decade.
Admittedly, there are development issues, especially those related to Ontario Land Tribunal matters that have to be in closed.
The City Manager has advised of his intent to bring forward a report to the March 2002 CSSRA meeting regarding enhancing the alignment and effectiveness of the City of Burlington’s governance related business processes, practices and policies.
The impetus for the report is tied to the need to issue a new RFP for the upcoming renewal of the five-year contract for the City’s independent Integrity Commissioner.
There have been issues raised over the past 12 months in regard to the procedures and processes by which matters before Council are dealt with in Open versus Closed Session Meetings which have substantiated the timely need to review, update and properly define these best practices and procedures and to utilize the findings from this
assessment to support the development of an updated Closed Meeting Protocol.
 When Council meetings resume normal operations will we see as much of this? It will be interesting to learn just what the City Manager thinks a best practice is.
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
February 2nd, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
It was 10 pm on December 3, 1973 when a 37 year old trucker from Kansas, with the CB handle ‘River Rat’, was on a regular meat products haul but found himself running out of diesel fuel. So he stopped his vehicle on Pennsylvania I-80, picked up his mic and told the world that he’d had enough with high fuel prices, limited/rationed supply and a 55 mph speed limit.
Having stopped the traffic on that highway, it wasn’t long till truckers everywhere in America joined his protest. Then came the song (see link below) and then a movie. This was a movement and these truckers were folk heroes. So the organizers of today’s Freedom Convoy would very much like to re-channel that sentiment. After all, America had been stuck in an energy crisis which was, in some ways, not unlike the public health crisis we’re facing today.
 The truckers have absolutely no idea what this woman does: She is the Governor General of Canada – a wise person doing what is a ceremonial role for the most part. But that is where the similarity ends. That 70’s convoy was a spontaneous act of civil disobedience. The convoy sitting in Ottawa is a premeditated act of attempted sedition. They are threatening to somehow get the Governor General (GG) and head of the Senate to sign a Memorandum of Understanding which will dissolve Parliament and wipe out an entire suite of federal and provincial laws and regulations. They would replace an elected government with the appointed Senate and GG and themselves – Canada Unity.
Canada Unity, the primary organization responsible, is a rebranding of United We Roll, also called Canada’s yellow vests. In 2019 they rolled into Ottawa to demand more oil pipelines for Alberta. Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, perhaps at the urging of his campaign manager, a former Rebel magazine executive, met with them. And even back then they were a pretty unsavoury group.
Supporting organizations today include Soldiers of Odin, the Diagolon network and the Plaid Army. The web site ‘antihate,ca’ identifies some of these associates as neo-Nazis, holocaust deniers, and just plain good old racists. Somewhere in the mix are the western separatists and a lot of folk who don’t actually drive trucks.
The pretence for the convoy idea makes no sense. It wouldn’t matter if Canada waived its border vaccine mandate, since the US has the same requirement. And, seriously, since 90% of truckers are already vaccinated and their very own truckers associations disapprove of this protest, it’s hard to believe that the vaccine mandate is anything but a false flag. Clearly something else is driving this movement.
It is unclear how Canada Unity assumes they can get the Governor-General and leader of the Senate to sign this memorandum of understanding without applying some kind of coercion. At least one of their crowd has hinted at doing what happened at the Capital Building in Washington last year. So the RCMP are on alert.
Prime Minister Trudeau is isolating following contact with someone testing positive for COVID. And that is a convenient cover for what we’d normally call hiding. He is no doubt sequestered by the Mounties much as the legislators in DC ended up in January a year ago. But Erin O’Toole is promising to meet with this anti crowd.
O’Toole has little choice. He is under attack for caving in on the carbon tax and flip flopping on so much else during the last election, and needs to show that he too can cater to the right wing extremists. As a former military officer, it is hard to believe he relishes the meeting, however.
 Pierre Poilievre, the current pretender to the Conservative throne, Pierre Poilievre, the current pretender to the throne, is nipping at his ankles, trying to impress the rightwing zealots in the Conservative caucus that he’s the heir apparent. He does indeed have an incredible talent when it comes to stringing together meaningless phrases like ‘vaccination vendetta.’
And Poilievre is also really good at promoting alternate facts, such as the fake images of empty grocery shelves his cabal of radicals posted on social media, despite the photos originating somewhere in Britain. Barely two weeks into the vaccine mandate, he posts…“Trudeau’s vaccine vendetta is emptying grocery shelves and ballooning food prices.”
Poilievre either doesn’t know the real reasons that have dogged the supply chains or he is being dishonest. Has he forgotten that we first ran out of toilet paper in March 2020? That was almost two years before the trucker’s vaccine mandate came into effect.
Metro stores president and CEO Eric La Flèche said the biggest problem has been absenteeism, with workers throughout the supply chain falling sick with COVID-19 or having to self-isolate. Further, it was noted that almost 100,000 trucks crossed the border the week after the mandate came into effect – about the same as usual for that time of year.
There was a time when the biggest reason to vote for a candidate was their honesty. Clearly times have changed. What do we call someone who is prepared to peddle misinformation and cavort with potential terrorists just to get headlines? One can only hope it’s not ‘prime minister’.
One of the convoy leaders, Mr. Steenburg is a real trucker. And he is proud of his TikTok page which is filled with videos promoting conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines, pandemic denialism and videos promoting fictional war-crimes trials for those responsible for vaccine mandates. But he claims he’s keeping an eye out for trouble makers.
Steenburg claims that this movement has raised $7.5 million in donations collected through GoFundMe. Clearly that didn’t all come from NDP leader Jagmeet Singh’s family, though his brother-in-law was a big donor. Mr. Singh has condemned the protest. And it is unclear whether all that money has yet been released to pay the protesters for fuel, food and accommodation, and those monstrous Canada flags.
 Parliament is not in session, the prime minister is not in Ottawa and MPs have been told to stay away. So nothing exciting may take place, and with a bit of luck they’ll go home in peace. Peaceful protesting is part of our democratic tradition, but did they really have to bring those humongous trucks? This convoy driving from BC to Ottawa and idling their engines all night, just to keep warm through the coldest nights of the year, may have single handedly generated enough carbon to keep Canada from meeting it’s Paris climate targets. Why didn’t they just take the train?
 There may be a song and movie about the Freedom Convoy, but probably only if the leaders of this protest really do go ahead with their attempt at a coup d’état. They haven’t come to Ottawa just for the drive. But Parliament is not in session, the prime minister is not in Ottawa and MPs have been told to stay away. So nothing exciting may take place, and with a bit of luck they’ll go home in peace.
In a tweet Mr. O’Toole said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals want to “smear and demonize” truckers. It appears the convoy leaders have already done that to themselves and to the Conservative party members who support them.
 Ray Rivers, a Gazette Contributing Editor, writes regularly applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was once a candidate for provincial office in Burlington. He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject. Ray has a post graduate degree in economics that he earned at the University of Ottawa. Tweet @rayzrivers
Background links:
Trump Jr. –
Convoy Song – ’73 Convoy – BS on Supply –
Poilievre Tweet – Tories Promote Convoy –
Convoy More Dangerous –
Trucker Hate – Empty Shelves Story – Fake Photo of Empty Shelves –
Canada Unity – ANTIHATE.ca –
By Pepper Parr
January 31st, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
During her State of the City address on Thursday the Mayor would not declare that she is going to run for office again – she said she would declare in May (why the wait) but added that she loved the job.
A majority of the current council have indicated that they will run again; there are a couple that should re-think that decision.
But before we get our heads around deciding whether or not members of the current city council deserve to be re-elected we have to make some decisions on the current provincial government.
Do we re-elect Doug Ford? Personally I wouldn’t. In my view the smartest thing we can do, if we must, is return the Conservatives as a minority government.
I’ve not been impressed with the way Ford has handled the pandemic and his Highway 13 plans would be a disaster.
Doug Ford is a business man – that is what he understands – even if he isn’t all that good at it.
He once made the comment that he “detests” closing down the commercial sector – but that is what had to be done to limit the new Omicron variant from spreading.
Many had taken the position that this most recent variant wasn’t all that bad – failing to realize that more people died of Covid19 during January of this year than at any other time during this now two year pandemic – save one month.
We had children who were being infected.
On Thursday we had genuine nut cases lining the overpasses along major highways cheering on the Freedom Convoy – truckers who said vaccination mandate did not respect their rights; forgetting that not being vaccinated infringed on the rights of others.
 There they were – by the hundreds at overpasses across the GTA. Which part of the solution to bringing the pandemic to an end didn’t they understand? And which part of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms do they not understand? The rank stupidity and level of ignorance is stunning; the crowds that cheered on the truckers to be so uninformed is disturbing – and dangerous. Those who drive a truck for a living have the right to refuse to be vaccinated – but unless they are vaccinated they can’t drive a truck across the Canada \US border.
There are people at city hall who have been told they cannot report for work if they are not vaccinated.
I’ve never had the feeling that this provincial government has a solid grip on the pandemic. The way they have jerked parents with children in school is a real shame.
I am of the belief that Andrea Horvath, the NDP leader would have difficulty forming a government in the very unlikely event that she won a majority.
And Stephen Del Duca has just not inspired me – he is trying to create a profile and get some traction. I like the look of John Fraser, the current Liberal leader in the legislature.
I think the provincial Liberals need a major conference at which they could flesh out just who they are and what their policies will be. Until they do something to let the public know what they will do differently they are wandering in the political wilderness.
Times have changed. The pandemic has brought a lot of the changes to the surface.
 One of the issues governments have failed to effectively address is homelessness and Long Term Care. Housing that is affordable; solving the homeless problem; get a grip on what oxycodin is doing to people – the number who die of this drug when they overdose has to be curtailed.
Learning how we as a society take care of the elderly and ensure that their “golden years” have dignity and the services they need. The long term care problems are far from resolution.
Mental Health – a new health issue brought on by the pandemic with no programs that can come close to meeting the need. More importantly – understanding the need.
Re-thinking the way we are educating our young people. Is what we are doing now the best we can do?
How we allocate the tax money collected needs a much bigger deep think – and it is the public that will have to do that thinking – don’t trust the politicians to do it for you.
With a provincial election less than six months away – it is time to move beyond partisan positions and think about what we as a society need at every level and then decide how we are going to make it happen.
Burlington is going to have three candidates that are very very different.
 While canvassing a neighbourhood Manaa found herself on the doorstep of NDP candidate Andrew Drummond. He took the literature but did not invite her in for coffee. Andrew Drummond, the NDP candidate, is at that point in his political career where he has to do much better or look for a different career choice.
 Manaa gained some valuable experience working as a volunteer with Oakville North Burlington Liberal Pam Damoff and Burlington MP, Cabinet Minister Karina Gould. Mariam Manaa, a young Muslim women about whom we don’t know enough – the question with this candidate (she is running as a Liberal) is this: Are there enough Muslims to give this candidate the support she needs and are there enough voters in Burlington who can get beyond any level of racism they might have to elect her to office?
The current MPP, Jane McKenna will come out of hiding at some point. Don’t expect her to have very much to say – hopefully she will give up on that really stupid speech she made in the legislature that the pandemic was over-rated.
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 Ed Keenleyside, President Friends of Freeman Station
January31st, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
A Report to All FOFS Directors and Members at Large
We’ve been closed for a variety of reasons: normal winter shut down; Covid-19 restrictions and accumulation of snow effectively eliminating parking at Freeman station. In spite of this a few projects continue to move along, and a couple of new projects have begun.
 Ed Keenlyside, on the right, explaining a project to a citizen at a community meeting. First of all, re: the restoration of the caboose… Before the cold and the snow closed down operations Ken Brooks and his dedicated team of experts replaced the windows in the cupola after reattaching it to the main frame. Simultaneously the station’s electrical system is being
extended to the rolling stock and ultimately to the three shipping containers at the back of the property. In preparation for next spring, tongue & groove lumber is being stockpiled in the station – half has already been primed and painted and the remainder is being prepared as we speak.
Meanwhile inside… our long-awaited video wall, which acts as a backdrop for the diorama, is nearing completion. Following closely behind, will be the installation of an a/v link from the basement to the waiting room to provide a visual connection for those people unable to use
the stairs. Both of these projects are being completed thanks to the generosity of the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
 This is what they started out with – Sitting on some “cribbing” with a sign badly in need of several coats of paint, the Freeman Station gets ready for its big move. Now that we have completed the restoration of the station (in record time, I might add) it is time to look at an important component of the station that needs updating. That is our website. We have struggled to find a person who has the time and knowledge to manage this
valuable communication and fundraising tool. Over the years items have been added which had a temporary importance but which were never removed. One of the most common comments is that our website could be more user friendly. Well, work is now underway to
remedy that concern. The original company in St. Catharines has been contacted about resurrecting the site. With the pandemic lock-down, there are no visitors and thus virtually no donations. Therefore the sooner the website is fixed so that it encourages donations and
makes it super easy to donate, the better.
 Settled in the new home – the task now was to complete the refurbishing and make it a destination for railways buffs. On the fundraising side of our corporation, I am proud to tell you that due to your generosity, we had a successful campaign this fall. As they say on PBS “THANK YOU!” In addition, I have recently received good news from the federal government. Our application for a $10,000 grant has been approved and those funds will be soon deposited in our account. Being a 100% volunteer organization, we depend heavily on visitors for most of our donations. Since we have virtually been closed for two years, that has put quite a strain on our bottom line.
Another new project is just getting started, and this is a review of our By-Laws. Last October 2021 the Ontario Not-For-Profit Act was enacted. All corporations, like ours, must ensure their by-laws conform to these new regulations. Thankfully, all corporations have been allowed time to make any necessary adjustments.
One more aspect of our heritage train station is to complete an accurate inventory of all items we own. Since we are a small museum, we are unable to store unused items, and we have only limited space to display other items. This has led to the establishment of a Collections Policy and a Collections Committee. This group is headed up by the hard-working Dave Ellis.
 Currently they have spread out a large number of tools and other items at the station. Some of these will go into the eventual FOFS workshop in one of the three containers at the back of the property. Other items that are not needed will be sold or disposed of. The remaining items will then be properly identified and added to a comprehensive FOFS inventory.
The year 2022 also marks another milestone in the FOFS history. At the end of the year our land-use agreement with the Solenis Chemical Company will expire.
Contact has already been made with their manager in order to facilitate an extension of that contract. We are fortunate to be a partner with the city and Solenis in maintaining and operating this valuable heritage site for future generations. With the City of Burlington owning the building and Solenis owning the land we are indeed in good hands.
The pandemic has been a real challenge to your Board of Directors as well as the community we serve. The immediate future is uncertain from a health and safety point of view. We have been very careful with Covid restrictions, and so far, it has paid off. We will continue to make your health and safety our number one priority.
Please continue to support this wonderful architectural gem that has undergone a miraculous transformation in a few short years. From a utilitarian train station built in 1906 for less than $2,000, it has cost many times that amount to bring this historic piece of Freeman and
Burlington history back to life.
Please continue your support and encourage your friends to become FOFS members.
|
|
