By Pepper Parr
July 3rd, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
When the city announced on the Friday before the long weekend that GHAC (Golden Horsehoe Aquatics Club) had been awarded the contract – the folks at BAD (Burlington Aquatics Devilrays) were close to frantic.
The media release explained the decision they made which included the following:
As part of the evaluation criteria, the RFP required all applicants to demonstrate that at least 85% of their registrants live in Burlington. This is to make sure that Burlington residents benefit directly from the pool time the City provides. GHAC met all the requirements of the proposal, including this residency threshold, and has been awarded the contract.
Kimberly Calderbank, volunteer president of the Burlington Aquatic Devilrays – is fighting to keep her organization alive.
When Kimberly Calderbank, volunteer president of BAD saw that statement she immediately reached out to Swim Canada, the regulatory body for competitive swimming in Ontario, for data on the BAD membership and the GHAC membership.
Swim Canada confirmed that
79% of the BAD membership lived in Burlington and
that 28% of the GHOC membership lived in Burlington.
Later the same day the city sent out a second media release (5:36 pm on a Friday before a long weekend)
The content of both media releases were identical except for the one paragraph related to membership levels.
In the second media release the city said:
As part of the RFP process bidders were required to demonstrate how their organizations will ensure 85% of participants are Burlington residents. The successful bidder – GHAC- demonstrated that it could fulfill this requirement upon service commencement in September 2025. Further, the successful bidder will be required to validate this requirement in September, and annually thereafter. This is to make sure that Burlington residents benefit directly from the pool time the City provides. GHAC met all the requirements of the proposal, including this residency threshold, and has been awarded the contract.
Saying that an organization could fulfill a membership requirement stands in contrast to an organization that has already met the requirement.
BAD has retained legal counsel.
The 400 members of the Devilrays show that competitively they are winners – the city doesn’t seem to see them the same way.
At a scheduled city council meeting, there is an item on the Confidential part of the meeting
Confidential legal report regarding potential litigation for aquatics procurement
Something that could have and should have been worked out at an administrative level is now in the hands of the lawyers.
City CFO Craig Millar: Is this the level at which the pool allocation problem should have been resolved? Did the issue ever get to this level?
The procurement staff involved in this matter are said to be away on vacation. They come under the supervision of the CFO Craig Millar, who is new to Burlington. The procurement people should have brought the CFO into the picture.
The Gazette reached out to a resident with years of experience dealing with RFP’s – Requests for proposals. Here is what he had to say about this situation:
On the Resident Priority part of the RFP – “Demonstrate how your organization will ensure a minimum of 85% of participants are Burlington residents.” Use of the word “will” means in the future, the requirement is not to have 85% now or at the time of submission. If the city did not have this wording, the incumbent vendor would be the only vendor that qualified, removing the competitive nature of the process.
In the requirement to produce documents: “”bids must include current and valid certificate of incorporation as a Non-Profit or Not-for-Profit organization.” Our expert asks: How did the Golden Horseshoe group comply if the form, as the Devilrays claim, does not exist?
“The contract will be for a First Term of three (3) years with two (2) optional extensions of one (1) year each based on the same terms and conditions and upon mutual agreement between the Vendor and City and contingent upon a sufficient budget and/or Council approval if applicable.” As suspected, the contract is for five years.
“The hourly pool time fee accepted pursuant to this RFP will include:
- The supervision of two (2) City of Burlington Lifeguards for indoor pools
- The supervision of three (3) City of Burlington Lifeguards for outdoor pools.”
Our expert suggests “This wording does make the RFP look like a pool rental agreement, not the purchase of something by the city that would fall under “procurement”.
“The Pool User must commit to a minimum of 2,000 pool rental hours annually at a rate of $110.00 per hour. This hourly rate will be adjusted each September based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus 1% for the duration of the agreement.”
Again from the expert: This works out to $220,000 – so the “winner” commits to buy $220,000 a year of pool time from the city.
My conclusion – this is a facilities rental agreement and should not be classified as procurement. Council can and should be involved in the decision-making.
The irony of this photo and caption is striking — most of the swimmers pictured left BAD due to concerns over coaching quality and lack of meaningful development. Today, many of them train with high-performance clubs in Milton, Hamilton, and Etobicoke. To use their past success to shame the City is not only misleading — it’s deeply disrespectful to the families who made those hard choices in pursuit of better coaching.
The facts speak for themselves: BAD’s Burlington residency sits at 79%, below the 85% threshold required in the City’s RFP. Meanwhile, coaching depth has eroded, with many sessions led by unqualified teens and a coach-to-athlete ratio sometimes exceeding 1:40. Families have been voting with their feet for months. GHAC didn’t “poach” anyone — Burlington swimmers and parents actively sought better training environments.
The City’s decision wasn’t arbitrary or political — it was grounded in transparent, published criteria designed to ensure that Burlington residents have access to Burlington pools. That’s not betrayal — it’s accountability.
What is disappointing is how BAD’s leadership continues to deflect, attack others, and spread misinformation instead of reflecting on what led to this outcome. They’re not being excluded — they’re being asked to meet a standard. Whether they choose to rise to it is entirely up to them.
And let’s be clear: the oft-cited number of “400 swimmers” means little when the coaching infrastructure can’t support them responsibly. With only two certified competitive coaches currently serving a massive roster, and limited individualized attention, the club simply hasn’t met the bar families expect — and deserve.
GHAC, in contrast, offers certified coaching, inclusive access, and long-course training at McMaster. Thanks to the City’s decision, Burlington kids now have real choice — without discrimination, misinformation, or guilt.
It’s time to focus on quality, ethics, and opportunity — not drama and deflection.
As the Beatles sang “Baby, you can drive my bus”. Frankly, Bruce I think that your City employment is showing 😉
Curious: do you work for the city?
Whether a procurement initiative or a rental agreement, the key issue is intent and impact. The ONLY way that GHAC can meet the 85% requirement is to poach swimmers from BAD resulting in the destruction of the Burlington Acquatic DevilRays. A process, whether facilities rental or competitive that has the net effect of eliminating a viable public entity (in this case BAD) is simply immoral and certainly not to be condoned by any level of government.
A final note. It is my understanding that there were issues between Parks and Recreation and BAD (undisclosed to BAD) relative to broader pubic access. However, rather than meet with BAD and attempt some form of amicable resolution, Parks and Recreation simply directed the release of the “blunt instrument” of the RFP. This speaks volumes. No need to meet with actual people, no need to engage with the community …
How typical of this administration.
The stench of this is increasing at an alarming rate. This may be a good time for COB to learn from the lessons in the Bellamy Report. As to the moving and fluid 85% goal post, here is the actual wording from the RFP,2.0, Scope of Services and Expectations, “it is expected that priority will be given for serving City of Burlington residents, with a minimum target of 85% Burlington residency…..”.